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This guide is intended for relatively new Minion Masters players who are having trouble winning at low ranks. There's a lot to take into account between deck building and actually playing the game, from your card choices to how you position your minions during play. Watch Minion Masters channels streaming live on Twitch. Sign up or login to join the community and follow your favorite Minion Masters streamers!
Jan 10, 2018
This guide is designed to help newer players at minion masters, it talks about strategy and deck building ideas.
Core Concepts
Minion masters is a tug of war PVP game. It’s like rock paper scissors in many ways too. However, there are many other factors too. In this tutorial, I will be covering the basics as well as some other important things about the game. The objective is to play cards to kill the opponent’s base with these cards. Cards cost mana, mana is generated over time, increasing throughout the match. There is also a limit of 10 mana for how long you can save up for. Cards have different mana costs, the higher mana cost cards tend to be stronger, for balancing purposes.
You can select which cards you want to play in the main menu. It’s very important to select the right cards to make the right deck if you want to win more. There are 3 types of cards: spells, buildings, and minions. Minions and buildings also have different attack types. They are either melee, ranged, special, or they don’t attack at all. There are also air or ground unit minion types. (all buildings are ground and they decay over time) With these types, some 'counter” others, for example, many melee units counter ranged units because of their higher stats. (they have higher stats because melee is a disadvantage) Other examples include: Most ranged units counter air units, flying units counter most melee units, and many buildings counter big pushes.
There are also a speed, heath, damage, attack speed, and 'targets” categories for minions and buildings, buildings don’t move though. Examples of the differences between these stats can be: slow units can allow you to build up more mana and claim the bridges for longer, most slow melee units are countered by ranged units though because they take awhile to get to the ranged units to attack, fast units can get to ranged units faster which especially helps with melee units. High health cards like living statue, warrior, and troubadour can tank for the lower health cards which do more damage for their health value when compared to the mana cost. Finally, targeting, not all units can hit air, for example, most melee units can’t hit air, whereas, most ranged cards can hit air, most units can hit ground. However, some units can only hit buildings, making them usually go for face in order to kill the enemy master, otherwise, they would attack one of the opponent’s buildings that the opponent put down. Higher DPS (damage per second) units with low health are good to protect because they do a lot while dying really fast if they get hit. Units with high damage and no area damage usually have low attack speed (for balance) making them deal damage way less efficiently because they overkill (dealing more damage in one hit than it can take) smaller units like the scrat can mean overkilling a unit. Area damage units are great at clumps of units.
Pushing and Key Concepts
Keep in mind that the game is not only about counters; pushing is big component too! The basic idea of pushing is to attack your enemy’s master, if you don’t eventually attack the enemy’s master, then you will inevitably lose, so, try to attack the enemy in some way. However, defense is an advantage since you have more control over where you want to put your cards and you have your master to help. There are many details to killing the enemy master though. Lets just look at one of the main ways of pushing, using a normal push deck. First, you do a slow push to save mana to stay on defence as long as possible, then you slowly stack up on mana, playing the slowest units possible making sure to save as much mana while you’re on defence, then, you send some troops in for the attack, saving some mana for spells to answer your opponent’s cards. 2nd way, is if your opponent fights on the bridge, then, you just answer accordingly since you should usually have the advantage if your using a normal push deck with rammers, living statues, etc.
'EXP” is another big part of the game, So don’t think pushing is everything. It’s a resource that you get from bridge shrines (a building card that gives 'EXP” over time) and owning bridges, being the most recent person to put a unit on one of the bridges. ('EXP” is also slowly generated over time) The 'bridges” are the middle point of the map on the top and bottom. 'EXP” gives you perks, each master has their own perks, these give various effects that are based on the master you pick. There are four perks for every master, they are unlocked at 20 'EXP,” 60 'EXP,” 120 'EXP,” and 200 'EXP” every master has the same 200 EXP perk, 'mana frenzy”. It’s basically sudden death! When a player gets 'mana frenzy”, their 'EXP” turns directly into mana, giving them a reasonable amount of mana from the passive 'EXP” generation and for each bridge controlled by whoever gets 'mana frenzy”. Sadly though, bridge shrine doesn’t work very well in 'mana frenzy” since it decays three times faster during it.
There is also another main type of gameplay out there; decks can use their minions to claim the bridges for as long as possible to gain lots of 'EXP”. 'EXP” is used to power a masters’ perks. Masters have a basic attack thats’ a big help to defence. Perks gives advantages that masters can get if you gain more 'EXP” than your opponent over the match. These decks have either have cheap minions, or splittable units (cards that deploy multiple cards which can be placed at the middle of your side to have some of the units to go both ways) to cheaply claim the bridge. There are 2 ways to claim the bridges, to wait for your opponent to claim them so you can gain the bridge in the end, or you try to claim them yourself fairly fast. If you claim them fast, the opponent can also do so if the opponent knows they have the counter, or they can wait, then claim the bridges after you do, gaining them in the long run. The advantage of claiming them fast is to immediately get 'EXP” which can’t be much of a hassle if your deck has a lot of cheap units to claim them. Waiting to claim the bridges may often be better since you’ll get the bridges in the end and it requires less units to maintain bridge control.
Deck Ideas
Well, here are some decks for you to have fun with.
Minion masters is a game for fun, so there are many cool deck strategies out there and I wanted to share some ideas for you to improve upon. ;)
![Ranks Ranks](/uploads/1/2/5/6/125640303/309344544.jpg)
- Deck 1. The all basic cards deck. Stormbringer: Daggerfall, Dragon Whelp, Plasma Marines, Plasma Marines, Plasma Marines, Fireball, Annihilator, Living Statue, Cleaver, Crossbow Guild
- Deck 2. The triple crossbow guild deck. Stormbringer: S.T.INT, Daggerfall, Dragon Whelp, Ghost Turret, Wall, Shielded Crossbow Dudes, Undying Skeleton, Crossbow Guild, Crossbow Guild, Crossbow Guild
- Deck 3. The triple future present deck. Apep: Scrat Pack, Elite Swarmer, Heal Puff, S.T.INT, Xiao Long, Annihilator, Divine Warrior, Future Present, Future Present, Future Present
- Deck 4. The triple skeleton deck. Mordar: Scrat Pack, Shock Rock, Daggerfall, Dragon Whelp, Plasma Marines, Undying Skeleton, Undying Skeleton, Undying Skeleton, Annihilator, Succubus
- Deck 5. The triple Drone force one deck. Stormbringer: Scrat Pack, S.T.INT, Dragon Whelp, Healing Shrine, Wall, Warrior, Annihilator, Drone Force One, Drone Force One, Drone Force One
- Deck 6. The ravaging rammers or something like that. Ravager: Scrat Pack, Elite Swarmer, S.T.INT, Daggerfall, Plasma Marines, Fireball, Rammer, Rammer, Divine Warrior, Colossus
- Deck 7. The king puff control deck. King Puff: Scrat Pack, Propeller Scrats, Daggerfall, Plasma Marines, Scrat Horde, Scrat Horde, Shielded Crossbow Dudes, Spear Throwers, Spear Throwers, Colossus
- Deck 8. The volco spam deck. Volco: Blood Imps, Illusory Cleaver, Mana Puff, Scrat Pack, Scrat Pack, Scrat Pack, Heal Puff, Styxi, Dragon Pack, Red Golem
- Deck 9. The mordar heavy resurrect deck with cycle. Mordar: Scrat Pack, Scrat Pack, Scrat Pack, Daggerfall, Ghost Turret, Healing Shrine, Xiao Long, Annihilator, Blue Golem, Colossus
- Deck 10. The demon warrior cycle deck. Apep: Illusory Cleaver, Mana Puff, Scrat Pack, Scrat Pack, Scrat Pack, Elite Swarmer, Heal Puff, S.T.INT, Shock Rock, Demon Warrior
- Deck 11. The triple scrat launcher deck. Stormbringer: Scrat Pack, Elite Swarmer, S.T.INT, Plasma Marines, Shielded Crossbow Dudes, Annihilator, Divine Warrior, Scrat Launcher, Scrat Launcher, Scrat Launcher
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- All Minion Masters Guides!
Minion Masters is a fast-paced online minion battle game and aims to be the first free-to-play tug-of-war game for both PC and Xbox. Players choose a Master and build decks from hundreds of cards to challenge friends and rivals online in real-time. Next Tournaments. King Puff Cup Schedule.KPC 34 - July 6th.KPC 35 - July 27th.KPC 36 - August 17th.KPC 37 - September 7th.KPC 38 - September 28th.KPC 39 - October 19th.KPC 40 - November 9thRelevant Links.Highlighted Streamers.Tournament Streams. September 1st.
September 14thSupportYou can ask the great Reddit community here or if you want direct contact with BetaDwarf support, send a mail to support at betadwarf.com! I don't think so, so far you should focus on your skill.What i personaly do, is i look at hero ablities (King Puff for example) and his level 2 talent is any minion with 4-5 mana cost, get random shield or rage. So i build my deck with 4-5 and go on with it. Then i look what counters what.If i fail, i look what card on oponent side make me lose, then i decide to counter it (If there is card which counters multiple things at once) or chose stronger card for same price or the same if aviable.Then with experience what works and what does not in matches, i chose my draft deck based on my previous matches.(Master 5 currently). Like Legend said theres no exact tier list but I guess what may help a new player is a playstyle list for each character. I am diamond solo, and team play, grandmaster in coordinated team play. I'm honestly not pro this is just what I've found.Stormbringer - Ranged decks are clearly a strong suit in this deck.
His first perk is a great tempo keeper, and the 2nd perk can help maintain bridges even when on the backfoot, or be safer when on the offense. Remember though you still need tanks! A good tank like the walking statue or guardians are great.
His weakness is his attack speed. Swarms are a pain to deal with, so you want some good anti swarm characters like reboomers or fire imp. I found running three archer guild houses and walking statue an easy way to climb in team play.Volco - His first perk is his best perk.
60 damage per card played is amazing, and to capitalize this you want low cost cards. Your highest mana minion should be 5 or 6, and the others should be primarily 1 to 3 mana.
Controlling your bridge is VERY important and can easily help burst 240 damage in a few seconds. So basically, swarm decks are pretty solid with him. Bridges is a good card for damage, and his third perk makes your melee minions stronger, so make sure to pack a heavy melee hitter like a cleaver. His weakness is air units or long ranged ones, so I find running crystal archers a good choice for him.Mordar - Mordar is an interesting character because it takes timing.
His gravestones can be very impressive, gaining him 7 to 9 mana in value if you kill a big unit. However, it can also be worthless if it gets a crossbow dude. I've found running stronger single units to be key here.
Another strategy is to life buff a few single units (think 2-3 1200 hp harbingers) but this requires a friend to coordinate a deck with. He deals well with swarms, so I care more about grabbing anti tank units when playing him. If you do play smaller units as him, make sure they'll die before or after a gravestone has activated so that it'll be worth it. Also they make good impromptu walls if all else fails.Ravager - His perks are real strong and at times overwhelming. He plays to rush you with burst damage and tanks, supported by his own free tank brutus. His first perk and third perk is his chance to assault the base.
If you can deal with these waves Ravager is manageable. His 2nd perk is what makes his burst strength strong, making cards like rammer and cleaver very potent in his decks. I have found that Ravagers don't play many low cost minions that way they get the 2nd perk benefit.
He struggles with air and ranged moreso than volco so you really want to cover this weakness. Spells and snipers are your friends!Ratbo - I haven't really played him a lot and I haven't ever faced a ratbo that really uses his perks well.
Maybe someone else would be able to help you here.King Puff - King puff's deck buffs his 4 and 5 cost minions with shields and rage which can be very powerful in different situations, but don't only spam your deck with those cards. You still want mostly 3 or 4 cost cards to maintain a good mana curve. Trick swap is a strategic cards that can help deal with pesky units that are sitting on bridges or help claim both bridges with a few minions.
His last perk really emphasizes bridge control and you want to really be clever with the bridge swap once you get the third perk. He hits hard but attacks slowly so swarms are hard for him to take down. You will want a good antiswarm card so you don't lose to a scrat horde.Apep - another high value master, but with rng thrown in the mix.
Getting free 2 and 4 cost cards really helps with just out valuing your opponent. With the 2 free cards, he can feel swarmy like at times and its not a bad playstyle for him.
You want to make sure though that your deck is very well rounded. You don't know what you'll get for your free cards, and there are definitely good and bads ones to get for free because they may clutter your hand. His totem is nice, and gives you time to save mana for high cost units, or stall in general. His attack is alright, not good or bad. His attack speed does increase with every 5+ mana card in his hanj.
Thanks I try to be helpful!:)Now onto your question. The Colossus can be a good card if you use it correctly. It doesn't see much high tier play (atm), but its still a fine card to climb with. The trick is knowing when to play it.You don't want to play it right at the beginning of the game imo. You don't know what the enemy has, and there are numerous counters to him. Once you know if they have stun lancers, divine shield, fire imps, or flying units then you can play it at better times to avoid them.Personally, I also like playing him on the defensive when I know that one swing will get me 7-9 mana in value, that way I know that it wasn't a risky push.
Otherwise I play him when I have strong push on a bridge already happening.He also is weak when on his own. He's vulnerable to air units or units that do particularily well against tanks in general (think harbinger, fire imp, stun lancers, divine warrior).
You want to support him with ranged units, or put other melee units in front of him so he can close distances.He runs best in (skeleton dude, forgot his name)'s deck. Stormbringer does well with him if you have the ranged units behind. Apep is ok, and also benefits from the attack speed boost since you can't always just pop 9 mana at once. Magic girl (forgot name) does well if her special minion can help as well since healing fireballs and enrage potions will make them even more terrifying. But really, hes fine in most decks.Hope that helps!. In order:Musketeer is an okay card, but I don't really play it. It is a strong counter to colossus and cleavers; and does an alright job against warrior, divine warrior, and werewolf.
He damage output is respectable, but his attack speed is what makes me think he's eh. He suffers against hordes and slowly walks towards ranged units. Unless you are struggling with colossuses or cleavers I personally think there are better cards that you could have.Snake Druid is a personal favorite of mine because he is soooo good in 2v2s. Being able to root enemies helps delay pushes and makes coordinated double bridge rushes way less effective.
Being a 3 cost card it is very easy to be able just react with him, and he has a very fast attack speed. He struggles against ranged units though, so don't plot him against crystal archers or tantrum throwers. I honesty like to save him a little bit into each match that way if they have a unit like the colossus or other strong units I can sync up my card draw with them so I always have the counter.
Being able to stop a rammer every time makes one of their cards useless. His damage output is mediocre though, so I would definitely place strong ranged units behind him and a tank in front for a terrifying counter push. He is good in 1v1s (I run him in mine), but be careful because a lot of people run crystal archers.Scott is a card I haven't played much, HOWEVER, I do think he is still a solid card. His attack speed is amazing, his walk speed makes ranged units easy, and he does good damage against even tankier units.
His taunt ability I often find to be more of a curse than a benefit (imo). The taunt is def nice if you have a bunch of units attacking a base, or you need your healer to live, but what I find most often is that I want Scott dead when I'm fighting him; so having all my units attack him is cool by me.
But if he survives through his taunt and walks right up to their base, they will definitely hurt. Overall, I would say its a good card, just make sure to not send him against too much at once.I have personally never played with Netherstep (in a deck, sometimes I get it with Apep), and I've seen it played against me a few times.
Its a big surprise, and can easily catch me off guard the first time it's played. Having a colossus/troubadour/living statue close the distance way faster than it should is terrifying.
I've seen it even be used to dodge fireballs since its an instant cast (if I remember right). I would say you would need to test the waters how good it is in your deck. Its pretty worthless in fast movement/ranged decks, but it definitely can be a trump card to crush the opponent. In the end you have to decide if its worth getting your units to the other end of the field right now, or to save the mana for another minion.
Personally, I think getting another minion is more important, but there is a time and place for everything. It's been a hot minute, so I hope you got to try them out!Commander Azali is a card I haven't played much and is odd to me. You gain shields every time you claim a bridge obviously, but it's only really good for about 1 push. In an ideal scenario for this card, you don't control both bridges. You capture one right away and then will capture the 2nd bridge later on in the push to really make the most of the shields.The problem with this is that the opponent will never grab the bridges until the commander is dead. A) because one of the bridges is protected by the commander. B) He will want to deal with a commander push since she does good damage.
C) Why would they let you grab the bonus more than twice? Anyone who knows that card knows to deal with the commander first.So thinking in terms of mana cost, you are playing a tanky melee unit that also grants shields to all friendly units for 8 mana. At best, the commander is really only as good as maybe a 5-6 cost unit since her attack speed sucks, and she doesnt do enough damage to deal with tanks fast.
So really you're paying 3 cost for shields on all your other units. Is this good at times?
Swarm decks are amazing with shields, but they also tend to capture both bridges at once. If you group more than 1 scrat horde on the top, they will die easily to 1 fire imp, defenso chopper, spell etc. This makes swarm decks kinda eh with it. Beyond swarms or light units, shields are pretty eh unless your opponent only has Cleavers and Harbinger.Is it a bad card? No., but it's not something to write home about either. You don't really see it at all in high level play, in low level play though she does fair enough since player may not realize to just focus her down and ignore bridges for a moment.Again, haven't played her much myself, but the few times I have it's awkwardly timed and I tend to play swarmy decks so shields do nothing against me, so I could potentially be slightly biased.
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