Tarred & Feathered: The Phoenix Rewards (Patreon)

We've looked at the hunt, we've boggled at the showdown. Now it's time to take a dive into the Phoenix gear. Now I've looked at some of this in the past, so in those cases I am going to provide a short summary and/or link to the relevant post so you can read about the stuff in specific there.

Armor Sets

There are a total of four armor sets that use Phoenix parts at the moment and they represent one of the more compelling reasons to not completely ignore the Phoenix. While Phoenix Armor falls off once you get outside of the 'core experience' and start using various expansion monsters. It still represents one of the largest offensive strength totals when you are combining Charge with Sharp, I personally value Dragon Armor's set bonus significantly above the Phoenix one. But the combination of the Phoenix Plackart and Helm is overall superior to the Dragon Armor's massive survival gains and injury protection. 

If it was not for the existence of hybrid armors that make better use of the Phoenix Plackart and Phoenix Helm then Phoenix Armor would be a reasonable competitor for an aggressive reach based DPS build in the face of Dragon Armor. However, Warlord Armor and Dancer Armor exist.

For reviews on the armor sets which use Phoenix Parts See the following:

• Phoenix Armor 
• Dancer Armor 
• Warlord Armor 
• Brawler Armor 

As a consequence, I consider only the Phoenix Helm and Phoenix Plackart to be worth constructing in games where I have access to the Hybrid armors and I will construct Dragon or Cycloid Scale armor above Phoenix if I have those quarry monsters available. 

Add into this the fact that the Sunstalker and Dragon King are the highest synergy pairing of quarries and I am not looking to hunt the Phoenix for a full armor set unless all the other options are not available.

Weapons

When it comes to the weapons, currently there are two viable options, another one which is okay as a transitional weapon and the rest of the options are terrible. We'll look at why this is the case below.

Arc Bow + Hollowpoint Arrow

I've written about both of these two items in the past and little has changed, the Arc Bow is the second best bow in the game right now and the Hollowpoint Arrow used to be the single best arrow you could choose to carry. It now holds second place behind the completely broken Gigalion Arrows, but it is still the arrow with the greatest potential for abuse when used in multiples.

• Arc Bow 
• Hollowpoint Arrow 

Rainbow Katana and Blood Sheath

The Rainbow Katana is absolutely not worth using until you have the Blood Sheath, a 4 speed, 4 strength weapon is just asking for trouble. Either by hitting the Super Dense location you were not aware is coming, or more often by getting the survivor shredded by reactions without much payoff.

However, properly kitted out, with the right gear in support and most importantly the Blood Sheath crafted, this weapon is a huge amount of fun, especially for dice fanatics.

Here is a link to my preferred build, The Screaming Rainbow, (1.31 cards in the link, but no change to the build required) it uses all core gear and thanks to the updates to Screaming Armor it provides a lot of utility and support in addition to damage.

Finger of God

While not a spear that is going to take home awards, the Finger of God is a reliable transitional weapon for spear users who do not have access to the Sunstalker gear. It is interesting in design and look - plus I love the theme of this weapon.

The Paired Pair

The remaining weapons, the Sonic Tomahawks and the Hollow Swords are both absolutely terrible and can be safely ignored until something is done about their design. 

To elaborate on this point further and because I have not really drilled into their design before. We shall take a look at them here.

When you strip away the minor differences between these two, they are at their heart the same weapon design. Both of them are a paired, low strength, high speed spamming weapon with decent accuracy. 

There are multiple issues with each weapon, but the two main ones are the strength and the speed. These weapons come from The Phoenix, which we have already discussed has a toughness level that demands respect, typically weapons are looking to be around 5+ strength at this point in the game otherwise progression is going to stagnate because the monster's toughness thresholds are too high unless you stick with the easy prey.  Even with the addition of the Monster Tooth Necklace, these weapons barely scrape the bar for attacking an L1 Phoenix, the very monster that they came from in the first place - and I can tell you, that's not what you should be using the MTN for (here's what it's used for).

So that is the very first thing which one should be looking at when considering if a weapon is successful or not, does it have sufficient strength to hunt the monster it came from and with a little aid can it help one reach the L2 version?  Given that the L2 Phoenix has 12 Toughness and these weapons are L1 White Lion level power, one can safely say: "No. Not at all."

This strength issue compounds onto the speed one, a player can get away with a high level of speed if they are patient, skilled and have the weapon strength to back it up. The design of 3+ Speed and low strength is an abject failure in Monster because of the heart of the Hit Location deck's design. The more dice you roll, the more hits you score and the more hit locations you deal with. This increases the amount of wounds you could deal, but also the amount of reactions you deal with (and it hastens drawing of the trap for your entire team). If your speedy attacks are not inflicting wounds, you're not just wasting time, you are harming yourself and everyone else. 

Even if you don't consciously realize that this is what you are doing, you will still increase the number of showdowns that fail, the amount of injuries sustained and drag showdowns out longer as the monster toys with you. 

So these weapons, with their 3 speed, paired, bonus attacks on Perfect hits design are harmful for the party as a whole. They are not worth using in a singleton and there is absolutely no encouragement to use them paired. Also the Hollow Swords are frail. Ever swung 6 Speed Frail weapons? They don't last.

So what are we looking for the Design team to do here? Honestly it is as simple as having these weapons increase in strength substantially, both at the base line with +1 or 2 strength and then an additional strength bonus when used paired. If you were swinging these weapons as 7 or 8 strength with 6 speed you could justify their existence. So I believe the cleanest and easiest fix is to do something like the following:

Sonic Tomahawks: Base Strength from 2 -> 4; Additional ability: When Paired on a Perfect Hit this weapon gains +3 strength and Deadly 1. 

Hollow Swords: Base Strength from 3 -> 6: Additional Ability: When Paired; on a Perfect hit this weapon gains +2 strength and make an additional attack roll.

This leverages the existing design of the the weapons and rewards you for using them paired. Paired is a mechanic with an inbuilt punishment, you have to craft the weapon a second time and hold it in your grid just to gain +X speed. That is a poor reward for the price and opportunity cost. These designs try to mitigate that by rewarding survivors who take the dual handed route.

Other Gear

I am not going to go into massive detail on the other options as I have reviewed them in the support article series, but will draft up to a paragraph on each.

Bird Bread

Right facing Green for Phoenix Plackart and a somewhat useful once per showdown ability. Worth crafting 1.

Bloom Sphere

If you are not attacking often or using a bow the Fecal Salve is superior, but for short range DPS types who might get targeted occasionally while surging to attack, this is a better choice. Worth crafting between 0 and 2.

Crest Crown

Absolutely worth the effort of killing an L3 Phoenix, this item is premium Hit Location control and will make the trap almost totally disappear. Absolutely want 1.

Feather Shield

Strictly speaking a weapon, but not really used as such. Ideal for Insane Immortal tanks to use. See more here. Want 0-1, depends on survivors.

Hours Ring

I wrote about this previously in this series. I still maintain that the new version is a mistake and a third version of this card should be created. However, based on how it is right now, you should always craft one if you get it as it's a free do-over.

Feather Mantle

Very useful against certain monsters who like to knock back survivors, candidates such as the Phoenix, Dung Beetle Knight, Lion Knight and Black Knight. It would not be worth the slot except the affinities are fantastic. You do not need to craft this, but it is not bad.

Slenderman Synergy Gear

There it one item from the Slenderman that uses Phoenix parts.

The Slender Ovule is incredible, it is a hard item to make as it is locked behind the 3rd level of Dark Water and has a high price. But if you can get the phoenix eye and the 4 dark water, you should craft this.

People of the Sun Gear 

Every People of the Sun specific item requires Phoenix parts and they are all worth it. You will be crafting at least one of each item during your time playing PotSun. So this is the one campaign where hunting the Phoenix never goes out of fashion. 

Your shopping list is:

• 1x shimmering halo
• 1x phoenix whisker
• 2x pustles
• 1x phoenix crest (and really you want 2)

So if you are a phoenix fan, People of the Sun is the place to be! No-one can ever tell you that hunting the Phoenix is inefficient in PotSun.

In summation, I still do not rate the Phoenix as a quarry and place it in 4th place for the current Node 3 monsters. This does not mean it is worthless, but it does mean that once you have access to the Dung Beetle Knight, Sunstalker and Dragon King your campaign experiences will be more varied and interesting than when the Phoenix is present.

And that's it until I release a Visual Guide to the Phoenix, those things take a long time to put together, so I am aiming to get it out for next Friday. As always with the visual guides, it will be a public release for everyone and it will contain shorthand of the three articles we've had on the Phoenix. The release of that image will close the book on this bird until APG releases the card pack updates and Campaigns of Death/Gambler's Chest refresh the experience further.