Demeo Battles: Tips and Tricks for New Players

This is my first guide so plz dont judge me too harshly. These are just some things picked up from playing the last few days. There doesn’t seem to be a compendium so this might help some of the newer players.
In no particular order tips and tricks,

1. Playing with friends is fun but if you would prefer to control both heroes there is an option for that. Just Go to Multiplayer>Casual (since there is no Ranked yet)> and then select the ‘Solo’ option.

2. You can control which heroes go first for your side. The hero that you select first will always go before the hero you select 2nd (which team goes first in the match is a coin flip). I find that taking the ‘tank’ hero first and damage dealer 2nd is the way to go. Current favorite combo is the Barbarian and Sorcerer.

3. At the buy screen there is an option to hide the store so that you can preview the map beforehand (took me forever to notice this lol).

4. Deployment of units. I don’t really have much advice here except that you want to place your hero’s so that they can contest the treasure chests (usually this means that they will each go to a separate side). After that its kind of up to you. I think you would want your high value units in the middle so they don’t get caught on the edges or corners. Ranged units in the back but that still wont stop them from yolo’ing to the front line sometimes.

5. Contest the treasure chests but dont take unnecessary damage doing it. If its a choice between the chest and not taking damage i would not take damage. Games often come down to who uses up their healing potions first. You can often set ambushes around these chests.

6. Bottle of lye instantly deletes Giant Slime minions.

7. The bone card will make the wolf companion switch allegience.

8. Two small slime can combine to form a Giant Slime if they are near each other.

9. Units that get entangled by cobwebs will be attacked by spiders regardless of which team they are on.

I am probably missing some of the other weird interactions.

This is my own personal tier list but by no means the gospel. You usually want to take a well rounded lineup into any match. And I usually spend most if not all starting coin on minions. Barricades at 25 coin are a steal as they force enemy minions to attack them and can block off routes. Cards you can get in chests and randomly throughout the match.

1. Elven Priests (300 coin): leech ability is nice in that i can heal your hero (steals 2 health and gives it to a random friendly). Also can call in 3 cultists to clog up the battlefield. Melee attack for 3 damage. 10 hp

2. Scab Rat (450 coin): This rat king does it all, good in the front line as it has a high hp pool and does a whopping 5 damage with poison. On top of that he can drop a rat nest which will pump out 3 rats every 3 turns. In deplyoment phase put this guy in the middle and as far forward as possible so he doesnt drop nest near edge of the map.

3 Giant Spider (575 coin): Great tank unit. spits out cobwebs to slow enemy units, does 5 melee damage, and can go berserk (attacks twice) when it gets to low health. Also immune to a lot of things like stun or panic. drops spider eggs but these usually get burned up by lava.

4. Anything ranged (Elven archer, goblin ranger, ballista (card)). Range is good, chip damage is good, you are just trying to make the enemy burn their heal potions without taking damage yourself.

Units I personally dont think are worth it.

Cave troll (675 coin) this guy can be good but he is expensive, does aoe damage that can damage your own troops and can be easily distracted or do dumb things. Not worth it.

Giant Slime (600 coint): instantly deleted by a bottle of lye (175 coint). Not really worth however two small slime is probably worth it as they are 175 coint each and combine to Giant Slime if you deploy them next to each other.

Elven Marauder: This guy can pull enemies to him which is awesome if he snares an enemy hero but less awesome if he snares a Giant Spider or something similar.

Anything that can backfire against you is not worth it. Part of me wishes they would give us full control of the minions but part of me likes the randomness of it. Even still the ai is not that ‘smart’ at controlling minions so better to spread out the money on a lot of medium units that can also spawn other units.

Will update more later.

Some thing are map dependent but these are rules for most games.

1. Contest the card chests but only if you can do so safely. Often times you can set ambushes around these and make the opponent pay if they get too greedy.

2. After the chests have been fought over secure the healing fountains. If you need to forego a card chest to secure the fountain do it. Often times these can decide the game.

3. Don’t take damage and let your minions do the fighting. The minions have a mind of their own so let them lead the way. Try to get damage in on the enemy heroes (especially the one that goes ‘first’ for the other team) when possible.

4. Set yourself up for the endgame. Move your heroes closer together so that they can revive each other so that they don’t burn their healing potion unnecessarily. Lava will come in from edges of the map forcing everything to the middle.

5. Often times the game comes down to who can survive the longest on the lava. The team with the most minions and healing potions at the end of the game has the best chance.

gl and see you out there.

This section will be pretty barebones (will update later if possible). I would say use your keys to unlock all the heroes as quickly as you can and then experiment with them. Just some notes on them.

Sorcerer: probably the hero with the ‘best’ cards for the late game. Fireball does 8 damage in the center and 4 damage around it. Freeze can turn units and heroes in a 3×3 square frozen which makes them take extra damage and makes them skip a turn. And the pis de resistence ‘Banish’ which you can save until near the end and teleport enemy heroes to the edge of the map into the lava. Let wizard guy go 2nd in your lineup and protect him at all costs. Also his basic attack causes ‘stun’ on enemy minion unless they are immune. can charge up basic attack so that it does a chain lightning thing on the next round.

Barbarian: Unlocked at lvl 20 and for good reason. This guys is great at positioning and dealing damage. His grappling hook can be used to pull enemy units or heroes closer, move around the map quickly, and pull orbs in that he can later throw.

Shield dude: This guys tanks enough said. Main ability is to recharge his shield which gives him great survivability. One card I would consider buying at the shop is the healing ward. Place this behind cover somewhere close to the middle of the map and it is a life saver.

Assassin: Great for sneaking around the map and taking out high value targets. Use your sneak ability before moving because the enemy can ‘reveal’ you by stepping on you. Does extra damage if it attacks enemies from behind. Has a card that can destroy any minion on a coin flip (great for taking out cave trolls and the like but still only 50%).

Hunter: Great at dishing out damage at long range. Best abilities are probably the ‘hone’ or target ability i forget what its called, it cost 0 ap and makes the enemy take extra damage so use this when you can follow up with 2 arrow shots. Also can call in a rain of arrows which does 4 damage in a 4×4 grid (?). Has some minion cards that can be used to contest card chests.

Bard: This guy has some interesting cards. His main ability can buff both minions and friendly heroes in three stages. Stage 1: take 1 less damage per attack, stage 2: deal one more damage per attack. stage 3: possibility to cause panic on attack on minions. Has a card which creates a shield for units in a 3×3 grid which is great. Also has a tornado card which moves erratically so put in on squares near final circle that enemy wants to move to. Take double bard with high value minions for ultimate lolz.

Warlock: dont use her too much but you get a cool doggo so theres that.

Will update later.

Please feel free to add any of your own tips and tricks in the comments.