Character Guides – Ghor, the Wyldkin

Overview

An in-depth appraisal and guide to everyone’s favorite frolicking, spell-slinging bear.

Preface

AS OF JUNE 2018 THIS GUIDE IS NO LONGER VALID. Serious balance changes have been made to the game, not least of all to Ghor. Consider this guide left up here as an heirloom of the past. A new Ghor guide will arrive soon ™.

Ghor is easily one of the most polarizing characters for the Armello community, and for good reason. He stands as one of the most powerful spellcasters – no, as the most powerful spellcaster in Armello, rivaled only by Twiss – in the entirety of the game. His ability to reduce spell costs and to sift through the spell deck is the stuff of nightmares. He throws Perils at the board just to empty his hand, buffs Banes and King’s Guards just to screw with other players, all within the safety of his forests. And to rub salt into the wound, Ghor is the most lovable, gentle ball of fluff anyone has ever met.

It’s quite funny, really, how starkly Ghor’s personality contrasts with his power and reputation. See, Ghor is written to be this friendly, frolicking forest fellow, an awkward, oafish fellow with a heart of gold. His lines include such gems as “I’m very angry with you! Sorry,” “Please leave me alone,” “I like to be alone,” and “Come find me in the forest!” He’s a simple bear that would rather stay in the woods than be king, and his ‘Sorry’ emote actually sounds very earnest. Yet this tubby marshmellow bear is without a doubt the match of any of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Something that needs to be understood before playing Ghor is that his reputation as a spell-slinging turret is well deserved. The strongest playstyles involving him are merciless and opportunistic, treating everyone on the board as a potential prestige piñata. If you see a Ghor on the board, you know immediately to avoid ending your turn on forests, and to keep some healing items handy so you can at least try and save yourself mid spell flurry. To put it bluntly, Ghor’s very presence changes the game, and anyone that plays him will be considered a threat by anyone that knows what his real potential is.

In this guide, I will try and explain a few different ways to play Ghor. I do have one specific playstyle that I favor with him, and I will make that clear. I hope to explain how much fun it can be to play Ghor and provide some strategies for facing him.

There is certain language I will use throughout this guide refering to character ‘archetypes’ that might be unfamiliar to those new to the game (or, heck, even to those that play the game; it’s not like these ‘archetypes’ I’m about to mention are listed on the Wiki). As such, I want to express clearly what they are before I continue.

• Fighter – A Hero that specializes in kicking someone else’s butt. They typically are good at one job, and that’s hitting things until they die. Examples include Sylas, Horace, Brun, and the Wolf Clan in general.
• Generalist – A jack-of-all-trades Hero that is very adaptable to the game and situation. These guys are rarely a bad choice for any given game, and can generally be adjusted to fill whatever role you need them to. Examples include Sargon, Scarlet, River, and the Rabbit Clan in general.
• Spellcaster – Spell-focused characters, typically with a high Spirit score, that specialize in casting lots and lots of magic. Most have low Fight. Examples include Twiss and the Bear Clan in general.
• Trickster – This is a character that is good at getting gold and/or settlements and using trickery cards to great effect. Having lots of gold typically makes them fairly flexible (as it gives them good access to both the item and trickery decks). Examples include Scarlet, Twiss, and the Rat Clan in general.

Note that some characters may fit into different archetypes based on their ring/amulet selection, or just based on how they’re played. Twiss, for instance, is very capable of flexing both trickery and spell muscles; Scarlet plays as something between a Generalist and a Trickster; and River can be made to be either heavily Fight-focused or to be more of a generalist. The point is, these categories are useful to keep in mind when selecting characters and making choices on amulets and rings, but they’re not hard and fast by any stretch of the imagination.

In general, you should be able to look at the cast of characters (after some time playing the game) and know roughly what sort of roles they’ll be fulfilling in the game. This will inform key decisions you make before the first dice roll.

Character Overview

Ghor has a rather odd set of stats at first glance. His Fight is 3, which means he’s a poor combatant; but his Body is 6, which means he can take a lot of pain. His Wits of 3 and Spirit of 4 means that without any amulets, his card draw is poor and his magical ability can best be described as average. But don’t let any of that fool you; there’s a lot more to Ghor than meets the eye.

With his starting gold of 5 Ghor can buy most anything he might possibly start with (with only a few exceptions). If he starts with a Bastard Sword, he can immediately put it on, for instance; or he can slap on a Chainmail Shirt, another really lucky item for anyone to start with. He can afford to buy both an item and a trickery, usually; or if he has 4 wits (from the Think amulet) he might be able to equip two items at the start. All-in-all, that 5 gold is a perfectly good number for Ghor to start with.

And now we get to talk about the ability that makes Ghor the legend he is…

Yeah, this is a really strong ability. Let’s discuss what it means.

Firstly, the negatives: Ghor does NOT get stealth in forests at night. Okay, that’s bad – but then it’s really good that he has 6 health, isn’t it? That much health means he’s not likely to keel over because someone chucks a couple spells in his direction. Bears are tough.

Now, as to the positives: when Ghor is in a forest, every forest that is adjacent to his tile reduces the cost of every spell he casts by 1. So, if he’s standing on a forest tile, and there’s 1 forest tile adjacent to it, he reduces the cost of any spell he casts by 1. If the tile is adjacent to 2 forest tiles, spell costs go down by 2. Etcetera.

It should be very clear why Ghor has his reputation, now, and why it’s fortunate that his Wit is a ‘mere’ 3. If Ghor can find a clump of 3 or 4 forest tiles, he can reduce the costs of his spells dramatically. With just 3 forest tiles, a Lightning Strke becomes a 3 mana spell; Mirror Image and Barkskin become 0 mana spells… You get the picture. This is powerful. (This is the nerfed version of his ability, by the way. Previously, the forest tile he stood on reduced his spell costs as well.)

Oh, but the fun doesn’t stop there! Did you know swamps can become forests, too?

Oh, yes. Ghor will almost inevitably find the Spirit Seeds spell while he’s sifting through the spell deck, which means you can potentially turn a 3 tile set of forests into a 4 tile set of forests. Thankfully, there’s an equal and opposite equivalent of this spell in the trickery deck called ‘Arson’ which can turn a forest into a swamp, but the fact remains that Ghor will be digging violently through the spell deck, and Spirit Seeds is just a small plus for him.

Let’s look at a couple screenshots from the in-game map real quick. Feel free to click on them to get a bigger picture.

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On the left we see a screenshot depicting a set of 3 forest tiles bunched together – a very nice place for Ghor to visit, that. But notice how there’s swamps nearby as well. Ghor can take advantage of the Spirit Seeds spell (should he find it) to turn that into 4 tiles of forest because there’s swamp there.

Note the other image: just one lonely forest with no swamps near it. Quaint, right? It probably sounds utterly useless to Ghor at first… but remember that no matter how far away from a forest tile Ghor is, he can cast to that forest tile so long as he is in a forest tile. This lonely forest might be a good place to target someone later, OR it could be a good place to step into while on a quest so Ghor can blast someone in another forest to smitherines real quick.

All-in-all, Ghor’s special ability is really strong and loads him up with a ton of free stuff with the only ‘cost’ being that he doesn’t turn invisible at night. The truth is, even that can be fixed.

Something to consider before playing Ghor: not all maps are equal for you. It is entirely possible, as another player has reminded me, for your only REALLY good clump of forests to be on the opposite side of the map. However, since coming back to Armello after a long hiatus I have noticed a few constants about the map when picking Ghor:

• There is always at least one clump of 3 forest tiles somewhere on the map, and usually more than a few places with clumps of 2 forest tiles.
• I typically find one long, stringy stretches of forest where you can reliably get 2 mana discounts (lots of 3 tile areas).
• Some forest clump of some kind, even if it’s just 2 forest tiles, is within 6 AP (2 turns) of your starting position.
• I sometimes even find 4 adjacent forest tile spots, or 3 adjacent forests with a swamp; or, if you’re really lucky, 4 adjacent forest tiles and an adjacent swamp as well.
• I have NOT seen 5 adjacent forest tiles occuring naturally. Actually, I just encountered five tiles of forest clumped together for the first time (on 4/30/18), granting Ghor a total of -4 on spells. There was also a swamp next to it, which meant that I could’ve had -5 to all spell costs if I got Spirit Seeds and the enemy didn’t burn down my trees. This is very rare, but it’s possible.

So, if you’re worried about Ghor being dependent on a good map, I say that yes, you should be a little worried. But my experience has led me to believe that League ofGeeks has a good map generator, and also that while it’s not always a balanced map, Ghor will always have the opportunity to use his passive.

When To Use Ghor

Some people may want to pick a certain character just because they’re in the mood to play that character, or they may let the random character selector do the choosing for them. It is perfectly valid to want to play the character you like most, and no matter what I write here, I sometimes just play the characters I want to play. There are those, however, who want to pick their characters strategically. This section is for those fine folks.

Ghor is a powerful Spellcaster that honestly works well in pretty much any situation. He is especially good at pounding characters with low HP pools and at punishing groups of players that all pick Fighters, but I’ve found that he’s rarely a bad choice. There are exceptions to the rule, but in general Ghor is powerful enough that if I’m picking characters strategically he almost always remains in my last bunch of options.

• The other players are all low-health characters. If you ever see a cast that looks something like Sargon, Griotte and River, Ghor is a terrific choice. Yes, all those characters can be dangerous to Ghor in their own right, but once Ghor gets settled into his woods he can kill them with 1-2 spells each (especially rats). They can all probably out-fight him and he’ll be entirely visible to their many trickeries and spells, but suffice it to say that Ghor’s spells will be coming more frequently, and that’s what counts.
• The other players are all Fighters, or mostly Fighters. Oh, this is Ghor’s paradise. Fighters might have solid Health pools, but they just can’t stand up to Ghor when Ghor gets powerful. Ghor especially enjoys the company of 5 health Fighters like Sylas, River, Hargrave, and Thane. They die the easiest.
• The other players are all Generalsits. There are situations where Generalists can dominate the game due to their flexibility, but three Generalists can potentially be out-fought by Ghor (with buffs up) AND can be kept at bay with his superior spellcasting. Amber, Elyssia, Scarlet, and Sargon can all be annoying, but Ghor can typically harass them enough with his spells to keep them distracted. The only thing to be wary of in this game is if they wisen up to Ghor’s powers early on and team up to defeat him.

• The other players have high health AND include Spellcasters or Tricksters. Sana, Magna, and Twiss make for a Hell of a trio for Ghor to have to put up with. So can Yordana, Brun, and Mercurio (yes, Mercurio; his extra Body actually makes him a decent choice against Ghor). Essentially, groups like these have both the durability and the spells and trickeries to punish Ghor for being Ghor. Ghor can still win in these situations, but there may be better characters to pick.
• You want to get commendations. Okay, this is a joke entry, but there’s a hint of truth to it. Ghor will naturally make enemies of EVERY player on the map if he’s doing well. He will make everyone mad, and I generally find that nobody will give me a commendation if I win as Ghor vs. if I win as anyone else. Even if I don’t win as Ghor, people will generally throw commendations at anyone BUT him, because Ghor makes people angry. I don’t blame them for being angry.

• Zosha. Zosha is going to be invisible to you for literally half the game. Her ability to remain constantly unseen at night combined with her surprisingly solid ability to win fights makes her a stealthy hunter-killer. She will find you and she will stab you a lot. Things get even dicier for Ghor if Zosha has the ring that makes her invisible in towns, or if she gets her hands on a Ranger’s Cloak.
  
• Fang. Yeah, see, no matter what buffs Ghor has up, Ghor is probably dead if Fang gets into a fight with him. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t pick Ghor if you see Fang get picked. Far from it! Fang is a wonderful person to blow up with magic! But don’t ever, ever let Fang get close to you. He’ll eat you. He will eat you.
• Powerful, Well-funded Tricksters. If a Trickster starts to get really powerful in your game, start quaking in your boots. A Trickster with enough Wits, gold, and settlements can dig through the trickery deck like you dig through the spell deck, and you can bet your fluffy marshmellow butt they’re going to want revenge for all the terrible things you’ve done to them. Mercenaries, Sharpshooters, Plague Bearers… They don’t have a range limitation on them like spells do. That’s dangerous.
• High Prestige Enemies. Prestige is typically how Ghor wants to win games, so when you see someone else beating you in Prestige, it’s time to consider your options. Either focus them down, take advantage of other players’ bounties, or follow through on whatever alternative victories you’ve been working toward.

The most obvious route to victory for Ghor is the Prestige Victory. However, Ghor will often stumble upon other victories as he plays just by digging through the spell deck. For instance, Ghor might find himself pursuing a Rot Victory as an alternative by coming across a Poppet in a dungeon and a couple Leech spells. He may find two mirror image spells late game – perfect for facing down the King. Or he may just stumble upon Crystalize and a few Spirit Stones in his quests, get lucky and succeed those quests, and find himself ready to break into the palace and banish the Rot for good.

Whatever alternatives crop up, Ghor will probably be banking on a Prestige win, especially if he has a nice clump of forests near his Clan Grounds, and doubly so if they’re near his Clan Grounds and centrally located to give him the best spellcasting opportunities. But if Prestige is looking like a dicey way to win, you’d better have a backup plan ready.

Rings and Amulets

One complaint I have about Ghor is that he really only has one good option for Amulets. He has a bit more choice with Rings, so let’s start talking about those.

The Bear Clan rings give a decent array of abilities, and I think most of them (with one exception) are perfectly valid choices for Ghor.

Jade is remarkably useful for Ghor. See, Ghor reduces the cost of spells, but more often than not he’s still using up 1-2 mana here, or casting Lightning Strike for 3 mana, etcetera. He needs help getting more spells thrown out as often as possible. Enter the Jade ring: give yourself +3 mana every dawn so long as you stand in a forest. This is the first ring I consider in every game, and the one I choose most often.

Quartz is kind of bad in my opinion, at least for Ghor. Ghor is GOOD at Corruption routes. I suppose the Quartz ring gives him some flexibility (in that he can remove Rot if he desires), but Ghor just has much better options than Quartz.

Amethyst could be useful for Ghor, but to me it’s less useful than the Jade ring in this case. A spell burnt is a spell that isn’t cast, and Ghor wants to cast all the spells. Amethyst is useful, as it can get you that +1 extra mana you need to cast Lightning Strike at night, for instance, but in most cases I defer to the Jade ring. You’ll be hanging out in the woods a lot anyway.

Amber is a REALLY interesting ring. “Burned Suns and Moons always count as attacks.” That means that if you DO have to burn, say, Aflame at night, you’re not going to feel like it’s a waste. Moreover, the Amber ring helps make Ghor more flexible in his roles: he can feel more like a bruiser when he needs to if he has the Amber ring. It’s worth considering.

Aquamarine helps Ghor escape Perils (which he has a problem with) and makes him fight a little better at night (which he also has a problem with), BUT it assumes you’re not pursuing a Rot Victory. It’s definitely a powerful ring, so I’d consider it nevertheless, but its effects get nullified if you find Rot spells falling into your lap.

Taaffeite is a good defensive option to consider if you’re looking at going up against Zosha, Fang, and simiarly nasty characters that have a bad habit of murdering you in combat. +1 shield in forests means you’re a little safer while you’re in your home. It’s a good choice in the right situation.

Do realize, obviously, that you lose Taaffeite’s bonus when you’re NOT in the Forest (see: going questing), so it won’t protect you when you need it most. It’s mostly a security blanket to keep you alive once you’ve hunkered down.

There is really only one amulet that is good for Ghor. I will list it first, and a few others you might consider, but understand that this first amulet is far and away the best choice for Ghor in virtually every situation.

Think is that amulet. Ghor has a measly 3 wits, and he can already cast his spells with no real issue once he finds a forest, so Spirit isn’t that useful. He’s not too worried about slugging it out with people because he wants to try and melt them before they get close to him. What he needs is more card draw, and Think gives him that card draw.

To put it this way: every 1 point of Wits is 1 more spell per turn you can potentially cast. So, with Think and your first quest done you’ll have 5 Wit, which is potentially 5 spells cast each round. More spells cast means more chances for you to find the spells you WANT to find, which are typically damage spells: Aflame, Immolation, Lightning Bolt, Leech… And it also increases your likelihood of finding powerful utility spells like Teleport and Banish. Spells that help you finish your quests safely (with minimal expousre to interruption by the other players) are super, super important; and just as important is any spell you can get that will keep other players from finishing THEIR quests.

Long story short: pick the Think amulet. I’m serious.

Sprint is an amulet worth considering if, for some reason, you don’t want to use Wits. Actually, with the new update that’s added Explode Pools and revamped the power of Sprint, this amulet is now a rather interesting and viable choice, moreso than it was before. You see, Ghor needs to stop in his Hundred Acre Woods, especially if he’s equipped with the Jade ring. Sprint gives him an extra speed boost whenever he doesn’t use up all his AP. Does this make it better than the Think amulet? Eh… probably not. But still, it’s a good choice now.

Scratch is worth considering if you want to play Ghor like a Fighter. I mean, he wouldn’t be terrible at it: with his ability to self-buff cheaply and easily, splitting his quests between Wits and Fight could give you a pretty tough bear. Use it with the Amber ring, self-buff in forests, smash the King with Mirror Image, Barkskin and Feral up… Yeah, this is perfectly reasonable to do.

Resist could be useful in a similar regard, I suppose. Ghor with a free shield everywhere + an extra shield in Perils could help shore up his weaknesses. Like Scratch, this amulet could work with Amber… or you could couple it with Aquamarine and find most Perils a LOT easier to handle. You’ll be perfectly good at fighting at night as well as in the day so long as you can self-buff.

Decay would be an interesting choice as Ghor could, for instance, get 3 health from Leech instead of 1. It definitely would make him a lot tankier than usual, and would give you incentive to drop down spells like Plague. Still, I think Wits is the smarter choice for this Spellcaster.

Every other amulet just seems too sub-par for Ghor to even talk about in my humble opinion. Ghor benefits a crazy bunch from Think.

Goals In-Game

Generally speaking, Ghor’s goals don’t vary all that much (save for quest selection if he goes toward a more martial route). Ghor wants to be able to cast spells and lots of them. Anything that helps with that is good, and anything that keeps him alive is good. He also wants to maximize his Prestige by doing whatever it takes to kill the other players, get extra Prestige, and stay alive.

Ghor’s goal is absolutely straightforward: Get Wits, get something else, then Wits again. Ghor just wants more Wits to cast more spells. Any other stat is a secondary concern, and unless a really powerful item or follower presents itself as a quest reward, Ghor just wants more Wits.

Assuming the Think amulet was chosen, Ghor’s starting stats are 3/6/4/4. You definitely want to push Wits to 6, but the more I play Ghor, the more I value a somewhat higher Fight to help him pursue a Kingslayer victory. 4/7/6/4 is the stat array I end up with a lot, but quest rewards determine so much. 3/7/6/5 is good if you’re getting Spirit Stones or Rot, and 5/6/6/4 is perfectly fine. If you have a bad map, 5 spirit can help you cast outside of forests. Keep that in mind!

If you took the Scratch amulet, you want to end at 6/6/5/4 or maybe 5/6/5/5. The goal is to have good enough stats for fighting while still being able to make judicious use of your powerful spellcasting.

Really, Ghor isn’t that reliant on good equipment. As a Spellcaster, he wants some defensive equipment, and possibly a Sailor’s Lantern or a Spyglass if he’s casting a lot of spells as Perils (such as if he has the Conjurer in his retinue). The Lionheart Breastplate can keep him from being forced out of his woods, so that’s good; and he definitely enjoys the Wyldfyre Staff (more Magic = always good). He also likes Prestige, so items like the Feathered Helm, the Lord’s Scepter, and the Royal Banner are always nice.

There are a few more treasures of special note: the Helm of Heroes and the Masquerade Mask. The Mask makes him a better spellcaster in general, pushing his Spirit up at night (more magic) and pushing his Wits up by day (more card draw). The Helm of Heroes gives him a flat +1 Wits and +1 Shield in battles, which is REALLY good. If Ghor can get one or both of these, he’ll be in a great spot to dominate outside of combat.

Another good item for Ghor, especially if he’s going for a Rot Victory as an alternative, is the Poppet. Ghor can focus on surviving a battle and let the Poppet do the work. Poppet + two good defensive items (Lionheart Breastplate, Battle Armor, Tower Shield or Chainmail Shirt) = a really annoying nut to crack.

The Ranger’s Cloak is worth mentioning. Remember how Ghor cannot be stealthed in the woods at night? The Ranger’s Cloak makes it so he can. It’s a great thing to have on Ghor, and makes it harder for others to target him. (Note, however, that Leech WILL reveal your position to other players.) Also, I have been told you can see Ghor’s passive working even with the cloak (they see fireflies). I have not confirmed this.

A Fight-centered Ghor still wants good Wits, but also wants offensive equipment. Prioritize items for him like you would for a Fighter type (some defense, some offense), but try and get the Helm of Heroes if you can.

Um… Ghor kind of wants all the spells.

Really, I thought I’d have more to say here, but there’s not a lot to be said. Ghor wants to use every spell he can, and to use them as frequently as he can. I suppose I should give some general advice as to what to use them for.

• Offensive spells like Leech, Immolation and Moonbite should be used as direct target spells (unless you have the Conjurer) and in rapid succession if necessary to take out other players. You can also nab some quick prestige off of Banes if you’re not Corrupted, but remember: kill players first. And don’t discriminate! Everyone deserves to die.
• Lightning Strike is the one offensive spell you may want to use as a Peril if you can, especially if you know the enemy’s quest objective. Some Cursed Lands would go nicely with it. Otherwise, it’s great for finishing enemies off.
• Spirit Strike functions oddly with Ghor. If you have 7 mana but forests reduce your spell casts by 3, you won’t deal 10 damage, but will instead use 4 mana and deal 4 damage. If you cast a spell that takes away 1 mana, Spirit Strike will cost 3 and deal 3. Keep that in mind!
• Cursed Lands needs to be emptied from your hand. Smack it on the King’s Perils that are nearest the Clan Grounds of any high-Wits or high-Spirit characters, especially Tricksters. Make sure they can’t just sneak into the Palace while you’re not looking.
• Teleport and Banish have both offensive, defensive and utility uses. Remember that you can cast off of your turn, so it’s perfectly alright to wait for an enemy to waste time getting close to you before Teleporting yourself away, or wait until they end their turn close to their quest objective (but not on it) before Banishing them. Be as rude as you can. Action points are a resource, and you want your enemy to waste as many of them as possible.
• One trick I’ve done is if a player has a bounty on them and it’s nightfall: I’ll buff the guards roaming outside the palace so they’ll whoop ’em. A King’s Guard with a Mirror Image and Feral is a terror to behold mid-game. Also, if you know two players are gonna fight but you want them to kill each other, you can use use the Feral spell to make the weaker one just strong enough to potentially kill the other. They’ll even thank you for it!
• Thane really hates it when you cast Shimmering Shield or Dark Influence on him when his hand is full.
• Wyld’s Warning can be used to force creatures and heroes that are in the way to flee from you, or you can buff yourself with it if you fear reprisal.
• Finally, remember that if you get a bounty or are across the map from the Clan Grounds while your quest objective is near home, you can nuke yourself with offensive spells.

In general, when playing Ghor just remember to try and clear your hand of spells as often as you can. You want to make room for new spells. Save key ones like Teleport and Banish, but otherwise go crazy.

And remember this, too, that most spells have multiple uses. You can use damage spells to return to the Clan Grounds faster, or to deny another player prestige from killing you. You can use Banish to move yourself across the map or to send an enemy away from the Palace. Malice Rising can give you another Bane to fight or it can remove a town from a Trickster’s grasp. Even Feral, for instance, can be used to debuff Twiss or other non-Fighters to reduce the number of cards they can draw.

Be creative with your spells! And remember: empty hand = good.

Ghor doesn’t really chase settlements. If he does get enough gold income to be able to use trickeries dependably, he’s usually still better off with spells.

However, there are a few cards worth watching for. If nobody has used the Strategist card, it might be worth getting it just to use it and keep it out of other people’s hands. If you’ve used most of the aggressive spell cards in the deck, you might try to get Mercenaries or Hidden Traps. Witch Hunters can be used to keep others from getting enough magic to fight you with spells, and if you know there’s a mountain with a dangerous Peril on it (such as Blizzard) you can toss a Welcoming Party on a nearby settlement to really mess up someone’s day.

But in general, trickeries aren’t the deck you’ll be sifting through. You want to use your magic, then equip yourself with items, then wield trickeries once you’re decently equipped or just need more damage from Mercenaries or something.

Honestly? Just use common sense, and keep as empty of a hand as you can. Keep an important spell or two as backups. Always try to predict the enemies’ moves.

Followers and Declarations

The Conjurer is a really interesting companion for Ghor to find. He makes it so that when you play a Spell Peril to the board, you get a spell back in your hand. So, you could drop, say, a Blizzard down and get another card in its place. This works super well for Ghor because he casts lots of spells for free, basically. Get the Conjurer if you can.

The Apprentice may seem redundant, but he makes Ghor even more powerful than he already was. Get him.

The Bard is an interesting case for Ghor. See, Ghor wants to win with Prestige if he can – it’s the easiest thing for him to attempt. The Bard gives Ghor Prestige whenever he beats a Peril. So, a savvy Ghor who is behind on Prestige could, say, throw down a couple Moonbites on the last turn and purposely walk on them so he can potentially get some extra Prestige before the dawn that kills the King. Pretty handy, that. Bonus points if you get the Bard AND the Conjurer.

The Warlock is a little redundant as a friend of Ghor’s, but he could be very useful to have, especially if you want to return to the Clan Grounds and you’re far away.

The Poison Taster lets you Plague yourself when pursuing a Rot victory with no real consequences. Hoorah!

Finally, Ghor does more loafing around than most people, so the Coin Master is always nice to have. Since you tend to be short on gold as Ghor, you might also keep an eye out for the Trader. Items and trickeries may not be your bread and butter, but it’s nice to have the option to use them.

Ghor can take advantage of pretty much any follower, though I generally avoid the Miner and the Berserker. The Miner’s bonus doesn’t come up THAT often with Ghor, and the Berserker makes it harder for Ghor to stay alive with Shimmer Shield.

Generally speaking, with Ghor you want to focus on slowing down the ability of other players to progress when you choose King’s Declarations. Whenever Dusk is about to end, seriously look at where your enemies are and act appropriately if you’re the Prestige Leader.

A few Declarations stand out for Ghor:

• Royal Stimulus: +2 gold per action point you don’t use? If you’re spending the next turn camping in the woods, or if you only need to use a total AP that is NOT divisible by 3 to reach your next quest, this can really help Ghor round out his equipment.
• Peace Treaty: Amazing. People can’t attack you or they lose 3 Prestige, but players can still use trickeries and spells as much as they like without penalty. Have fun making everyone miserable!
• Fog of War: This is great for when you really need to get to your quest uninterrupted and/or are afraid of someone killing you in the next 2 turns. It’s NOT useful when you’re trying to spam murder spells from the forest.
• Black Death, Beasts of Bane and Blood Moon: All of these are really good at increasing your Rot value if you’re aiming for a Rot victory. Black Death creates Plague perils (which you can purposely fail), Beasts of Bane summons Banes (which you can kill), and Blood Moon gives everyone +1 Rot.
• War March: Everyone gets bounties on your head? And you’re a magical turret of destruction? Sounds like a quick Prestige farm!
• Ripped Reality: This can be useful for giving yourself another means of travel, or for teleporting someone on a stone circle far away.
• Royal Flush: Remember the whole ‘an empty hand is a good hand’ business from earlier? This gives you an empty hand.
• War Drums: Like War March. Really fun for you! Turret it up! Get more Prestige and let the King’s Guards fight the other players! Just be careful about accidentally giving someone else the Prestige lead with this.

In general, most Declarations are situational. If you’re ever in doubt as to which Declaration to use, consider the situation you’ve been in and eyeball the other players’ Hero Shelves and Inventory Shelves. Total Famine, Highway Fees and Healthcare only work if the enemy has empty gold reserves (or needs to upgrade their gear and you’re annihilating what’s left of their money). Rot Rain can make it easier to kill your enemies, or even send you back to the Clan Grounds after you finish a quest on the other side of the map. Choose wisely, and remember that you’ll be one of the big contenders for the Prestige crown most games.

Winning and Losing

Some characters have ideal maps. Ghor is one of them.

Ghor wants to have lots of forested areas, and he wants them clumped up. If you have a clump of 3 forest tiles within 3 AP of your starting position, great! If it’s 6 AP (two turns) away, that’s less great, but you’ll probably be fine.

Chances are you won’t have the perfect trio of forest tiles at your doorstep, but the first thing you should do when starting the game is look at the map for all potential locations you might want to use as bases to launch spells from. Preferably, your ‘bunker’ will include plenty of forests, an adjacent swamp or two, and a shrine nearby to heal at.

Typically, you won’t see any forest clumps bigger than 3, so expect to TYPICALLY cast your spells at -1 or -2 mana cost. However, you’ll sometimes get lucky and see a clump of 4 adjacent forests, which can give you -3 to mana costs. This is incredible. Again, watch for swamps to turn into forests with Spirit Seeds.

Besides that, remember that you can cast spells to any forest on the map just by stepping into a forest. Use that to your advantage! If you’re out of range of an opponent while traveling, but you know he’s on a forest tile OR you know he’s going to pass through one (or be slowed down considerably), stop by a forest while you’re traveling to your quest. That will give you the chance to play spells at him, even if it’s on its own and thus doesn’t reduce your Magic costs.

Also remember that you do NOT get stealth in forests, so carefully watch the distance other players have from you. If they like to chuck spells and you’re low on health, try to gauge where they’re going and whether they’ll be able to chuck a spell at you. (The range of spells = their Spirit.)

You don’t have to end your turn in a forest necessarily; you just need to pass through a forest adjacent to others to cast a bunch of spells. Therefore, you can DEFINITELY be on the move as Ghor while still being a spell-slinging turret. In fact, you need to. You need to get +2 Wits from quests ASAP.

Remember that while you don’t get stealth in forests, your enemies DO. And trust me, they know this as well. In night battles they will get to burn cards while you often will not; be aware of that, and prepare yourself accordingly. Remember, too, that if you lose a battle (Ghor generally doesn’t win fights if he’s focused on spellcasting) you will retreat away from the enemy into one of the three tiles opposite of them. Try not to be backed up in a way where you’ll be routed, or if you’re corrupted where a Shrine will kill you.

Finally, remember that Perils make for great psychological warfare. If you have nowhere to cast Moonbite and it’s daytime, feel free to toss it down onto a village or in the path someone is traveling; toss a Cursed Lands on it for good measure if you can. Sure, a Moonbite may not be that terrifying, but the other players don’t know it’s a Moonbite, do they? This is most effective against low Wits, low Spirit characters like Fang. (Dropping a Lightning Strike on the board vs. directly on Fang or Horace is a great way to mess up their turn, especially if you know where their quests are.)

An ideal start for Ghor looks something like this: you have Battle Armor or a Tower Shield in your hand (3 gold defensive items), an aggressive trickery card that costs 2 gold, and you’ve got a spell that you can use to harm someone or hinder their progress. With a little luck you can head toward your quest, stop by the forest to cast a spell, and reach your quest next turn. If you’re VERY lucky, you’ll have a Teleport spell in hand and can finish your quest early.

With that said, you probably won’t get so perfect a start. Ghor with Think seems to always get at least 1 item, 1 trickery, 1 spell, and then a random card for the fourth slot. If you’re lucky that item will be a defensive item or something like a Sailor’s Lantern or Wyldsap; if not, well, oh well. You’ll generally have some sort of forest clump within 2 turns of travel. This is fine.

Your best bet is to go for your quest as quickly as possible, and pick the Wits quest when starting. Ghor needs card draw, and once he gets it he’ll be much more powerful. At that point you need to figure out if you need to head to your next quest immediately or slow yourself down a little to enjoy a forest clump on the way. This is all situational.

Your goal at the early stage of the game is staying alive, equipping yourself, and opportunistically punishing other players with spells. If you’re lucky, nobody you can’t deal with is heading toward you on Turn 1; if you’re unlucky, you’ve got a nasty 6 Body Fighter type marching toward you past your quest location.

Ghor can take the Prestige lead very easily. Once he has 5 or 6 Wits and starts camping out in forests his presence is easily felt. A few lucky card draws gets him ahead.

But don’t get too cocky, and most importantly don’t miss the details of how other players are progressing. Keep track of how many quests they’ve done, and if you’re not sure then look at their stats. A character who has done zero quests has 16 stat points (or 17 if they have a stat-increasing amulet); so, if they’ve got no amulet and have 19 stat points, that means that person is a single quest away from entering the Palace. That’s bad news.

Focus on delaying players who are ahead on quests, or whose gear has made them terrifyingly powerful. Disrupt other player’s plans; kill them when you can; and be mindful about killing someone that has just completed a quest, as you could be speeding them to their destination.

Don’t be afraid of starting battles if you think you can win! Ghor might not be a combat beast, but that doesn’t matter if Ghor has a Battle Armor, the Silver Lance, a few worthless cards, Shimmer Shield, and Mirror Image cast on himself. Ghor will inevitably find some useful self-buffs that can make him kick someone’s behind. (Fighter Ghor, in fact, can be pretty rough.)

If you draw trickeries, think of trickery-spell combos you can use to ruin someone’s day, such as the Welcoming Party > Blizzard combo. Other tricks might include Hoodwink on a player on a village > Wyld’s Warning > chase them into forest > Wake the Trees to make them discard their equipment. (Note: treasures will typically be re-equipped hastily by smart players as they have 0 cost, but expensive items like a Chainmail Shirt are great targets.)

In general, don’t let any one player start to get too far ahead in their quests once you’ve bunkered down in your forests and are in the blasting phase. Snipe everyone! Be a jerk!

And don’t forget to be working on another mode of victory if you can. Get some good equipment for fighting the King, or try to be the most Corrupted, or try to get as many Spirit Stones as you can. If you DO fall behind, you do NOT want to be without options.

As mentioned earlier, Ghor has several avenues of victory available to him. If he starts falling behind in Prestige, he should have another angle to try. Most of these will be opportunities that present themselves rather than something Ghor actively pursues, at least at first.

Whatever the case, once you recognize who is leading the game, delay that person as much as you reasonably can without letting the other two mooks get too strong either. Cards that inflict -AP, like Tanglevine, are always good choices for this. Keep track of the leader’s position, and if the gap is small enough try to take the lead back by rescuing terrorized towns, sniping players and Banes, and doing your quests. If possible, find ways to make them lose prestige.

One thing to remember is that dawn can kill Infected players. So, sometimes you don’t need to necessarily kill someone at night, but rather just injure them enough for the Dawn to kill them.

Comebacks are always possible in Armello.

Final Thoughts

Ghor was the second character I ever really attached myself to in Armello, the first being Zosha, and he has remained my first pick caster for a reason. He’s useful in almost any game, and he’s a blast to play – even if playing him makes other players hate you. The downside is that he really only has a couple good Amulets (Think and Scratch, for being a Spellcaster or a sort of Fighter-mage respectively), and his playstyle is very predictable for anyone that’s seen him a few times. When you pick Ghor, the other players know what’s up, and they’ll be ready for you. You have to be ready for their retaliation in turn.

Funnily enough, I don’t see Ghor being picked all that often. I’m not sure why – perhaps he’s just not very fun for other people, or maybe he’s fallen out of favor. However, I can assure you that while he’s not as powerful as he was when he was first introduced, he remains a force to be reckoned with.

I welcome any critique the Armello community has for this guide! I typed it up in a few hours, so I apologize if I’ve left out anything or if I’ve got terrible typos lying around. I will try and fix them as I go.

My next guide will probably be on Zosha. From there… Not sure who I’ll do next! I know someone said they wanted to write up a guide for Twiss, so while I love the squirrel, I’ll wait and see what they write.

You read the whole thing…?