Deck Guides/AW and FAW Teams

Welcome to Nepnep's AW/FAW building guide
Just a quick preface

I'm typing up a small-ish guide for now for several reasons: First the only guide I could find on the wikia is pretty outdated and most of the methods it discusses really don't hold that much importance anymore. Second I'd like the expand my teambuilding knowledge by seeing what others can suggest. And lastly of course, I'd like to help people out!

I'm a mid-level player with progress into the mid-late game. My highest rank is 850~ without paying for Shoes or Swords. I can clear EH Intermediate and am working on building Advanced teams (just finished 4 GURs from the Elemental Queen event)

Somewhat of a disclaimer: Valk Crusade is a game based entirely on RNJesus between summons and drops, and rotating events; as such, I can't really tell anyone to go "farm" particular types of cards, outside of AW/FAWs, which is intrisinically paradoxical since if you're capable of farming AW/FAW you don't really need this guide.

'As such, I will list EXAMPLES of cards that you can look for. Basically if an event swings by and features that type of card, you should try to acquire it. That and if you get lucky random drops or summons. '

I'll also include a quick glossary
If I've made any errors, or if you guys have team build suggestions please comment!
 * AoE: Area of Effect. Something that hits all cards
 * Buffer: Usually designated for ATK buffer. They buff by increasing by %, so a 200% buffer triples your damage.
 * Super Buffer: Card that buffs ATK and DEF
 * Field: AW skill that removes all buffs and debuffs on the field
 * Crit: Skill that inflicts a 10x damage hit on a single target
 * Tap: Tapping an enemy card in battle to attack
 * Shielder: A card that negates the activation of an enemy skill
 * Snowballer: Card that increases its attack every tap
 * Blitz: Term used to teams that can inflict a lot of damage in short amount of time, resulting in a kill very quickly
 * SR: Super rare
 * 1* - HSR: Evolution of SR cards. 1* means two SR cards have evolved into 1, HSR means highest level of evolution.
 * GSR: Awakened HSR card. Read about Awakenings here
 * UR: Ultra rare
 * HUR/GUR: Evolved/Awakened UR card.
 * Heart drop: Acquring a AW/FAW by maxing out their likability rating.
 * RNG: Random Number Game. Indicates when something has a random chance of happening, and requires luck.
 * Proc: Programed Random Occurance. Basically an RNG based event, usually denoted for skill activation.
 * Overkill: Hitting and killing for damage cap
 * Damage cap is 999999 damage.

AW Killing Teams
'''First we'll focus on what is possible/needed to kill AWs. Killing AWs is a big step for any newer player since that means they can acquire heart drops from FAWs and have their comrades kill those. '''

'''In building these teams we are assuming the user cannot yet defeat their AWs and is looking for a reliable way to do that. This will affect card choice and acquisition. If you are looking to build a FAW team, scroll down for the FAW section. '''

The Debuffer team
'''Fast disclaimer: I don't know if AW/FAW will not cast Archwitch Field if only debuffs exist on the field. The old guide said they do not, but maybe that got changed. If someone can confirm that that'd be great. '''

'''Edit: Apperntly this rule has been changed: A debuff on the field will trigger Field. RIP Debuffer. I'll leave this here in strikethrough for historical purposes'''

I suppose this is still viable, particuarly if the game gives you no useful attack buffers at all and you end up with a pile of debuffers. The concept of the Debuffer team still stands: stack debuffers and have a healer and a critter/aoe card. Debuffer teams would look something like this The Attacker should at least be a HSR/1*SR critter, or decent AoE card.
 * Attacker
 * Debuffer
 * Debuffer
 * Debuffer
 * Healer

The debuffers can be any debuffer really. SR 50% attack down cards are somewhat common; they were in the Elemental Hall and Witch Gate. They also drop as AW/FAW rewards.

Healer should be a SR-HSR healer so it can survive and also provide heals. HR healers can work as well, but you're gambling a bit here (the AW might kill the healer before the debuffers go off).

How to Acquire/Play:
I honestly would not reccomend anyone to make an active effort to acquire this team. It's pretty outdated and is slow as hell. It's really only something you should use if absolutely do not have anything better. Playstyle just involves attacking with the attacker while activating any debuff procs.

Pros:

 * Still relatively easy to put together
 * Can use low rarity cards which can be very useful for newer players who are limited by team cost

Cons:

 * Very slow: You're going to need a lot of turns and time to secure a kill
 * Somewhat RNG risky: if a AW kills your debuffer or healer before they can proc you're in a very bad spot
 * Outdated. It's probably just as easy to craft a better team that's faster and more consistent

The "Crit-down" team
This is a pretty easy to put together team. The objective of this team is to have a team buffer trigger and then spam crits in order to bring down a AW. Here's an example The Buffer is probably the biggest gating factor: You need a card that at least does something like "Buffs entire team for 200% ATK." These cards are relatively rare, but can be acquired through AW rewards and summons. I managed to get my first SR Buffer from a garanteed SR ticket. I also acquired SRs for Passion, Light, and Cold from AW rewards.
 * Buffer
 * Critter
 * Critter
 * Critter/Support
 * Support

If you cannot acquire a team buffer, there are cards that apply a 300% buff to a single card. These can work but they're pretty RNG reliant since there's a good chance they'll buff the wrong card.

At the time of writing this: the current event has a very powerful FAW card that buffs the team for 100% (200% if GUR) ATK and DEF. If you're lucky enough to somehow acquire one, definitely use her, especially if you're lucky enough to get the awakening.

Your Critters should at least be SR 1* to HSR. The more attack the better. As long as your buffer procs your crits should be dealing substantial damage (I would estimate 200-300~k) per crit. Critters are relatively easy to obtain: Nubee actually gave one away for free during the summer 2015 event, and they drop somewhat frequently from AW rewards.

The Supports can be whatever is the strongest you have lying around. Pretty much any of the following effects are useful:
 * Delay: Gives you more time to proc and attack
 * Heal/Ressurct: Keeps your cards in the game longer
 * Debuff: Keeps your cards in the game longer
 * Shield: Can protect you against an AW crit or Field. However these cards are almost all UR exclusive with the exception of one that is Summon exclusive.
 * Buffer: Having a second buffer puts you closer to "blitz" status since your crits can probably hit for 500k+
 * Unleasher: A card that unleashes another's skill. There are two kinds: Single target unleasher which unlease one card's skill, and team wide which proc your entire team's skills. Unleashers are extremely powerful and can turn any team from a mere Beatdown to a Blitz team. I'll talk about these more in depth later, since it is possible to build around them entirely.

How to Acquire:
Acquiring a good team buffer is definitely the hardest part of this team, and is a pretty big gating factor in general for Valk Crusade. Almost all good buffers are avaible from summons and tend to be URs; there are a few 200% team SRs. A few SRs can drop from AW rewards. Some events feature either FAWs or Amalgation rewards as powerful buffers. Rikayu was avaible some events ago, and the current event features the extremely powerful Elemental Queen . The last way to acquire some buffers can be through Ranking Rewards but those require extremely high ranking or a very lucky placement, so we won't be counting those for beginner/practical purposes.

Single target buffers can drop from AW rewards or summons.

Critters are pretty abundant, in fact a SR critter is available from the Goddess Worship right now, so with a bit of patience and a good alliance anyone is garanteed a 1* or higher Critter just from that. Beyond that Critters can be AW /FAW rewards, and drop from Witch Gates. However beating witchgates is pretty difficult and can be pretty expensive so I wouldn't reccomend farming witch gates unless you have a competent team.

Support cards come in all shapes and forms of SRs. They're frequently AW rewards, and can be acquired through summons and misc drops.

Pros:

 * Critters mean decent high damage, can kill AW relatively quickly
 * Multiple Critters means that if one dies you can still win
 * Critters are pretty easy to find

Cons:

 * Good Team buffers are hardish to find, but they tend to the biggest gating factor in Valk Crusade imo
 * If the Buffer dies you're probably screwed

The Beatdown Team
This team follows the similar premise of the Crit down team; however nstead of critters it revolves around cards that buff themselves, and is slightly more support oriented.
 * Self Buffer
 * Team Buffer
 * Support
 * Support
 * Support

How to Acquire/Play:
The Self Self buffer should be a 1* SR- HSR card that as a skill that increases its own attack by 300%. This will be your main attacker. These cards a bit rare, but not too hard to acquire. They appear from AW rewards , summons, and drop from witch gates. It is also possible to acquire a quick one off UR from a lucky drop off a FAW . 'To be perfectly honest the best way to reliably acquire HSRs of a card is if its the AW of an event. Acquring URs is possible from lucky FAW drops. Beyond that you'll have to pray for luck from random drops. '

For Team buffer, read above. Same as support cards, however you'll want to invest more in delayers and maybe a if shielder (if you're lucky) so you dont lose your precious buffs to a field. An unleasher would be interesting, but again, I'll give unleashers their own section.

Pros:

 * More consistent damage; once your buffs proc you just need to continually tap
 * Less RNG reliant, similar to above. Once buffs proc you're good to go instead of needing more crits.
 * More support means the team is more resilient

Cons:

 * Less burst
 * If the attacker dies you lose all damage essentially
 * Acquring 1*/HSR self buffer is slightly harder than finding good critters.

The "Blitz-down" Team
I also call these teams the steamroller or the snowballing teams. These teams revolve around a very powerful kind of UR card: Cards that increase their attack with every tap. Noteable ones are Speedster and Monkey. This team is a bit more advanced since it revolves around acquiring some UR cards, but I'll get into that later.
 * Snowballer
 * Team Buffer
 * Shielder
 * Support
 * Support

How to Acquire/Play:

Preferably, the snowballer should be a UR card such as Speedster or Monkey. You can earn one from fighting FAWs and hoping for a lucky drop. However there are SRs that exist, so if you can acquire a 1* to HSR version of these cards they can work as well. This will be your main attacker, as the buffs to attack are multiplicative, meaning you gain 40-50% more attack off your last attack value. Let's put this in simple math. Say Speedster deals 10000 damage without any buffs, and her skill is 50% more damage per tap. This damage will escalate as follows: 10000>15000>22500>33750>50625>75937. Close to a 750% self buff over 5 taps. Impressive, right?

Read above for Team Buffer.

A good shielder is pretty important for using a snowballer. Archwitch field will debuff snowballers, so it's imperative to have a shielder who can block that. Unfortunately, a lot of Shielders are all UR, with the only SR one being a summon only card. '''Again, this team is a bit more intermediate level and is moving into levels that can contest FAWs. '''You can get them from event FAWs .

The last two support cards should definitely be delayers or healers. Delayers are preferred since the less time the AW is attacking you, the lower chance of you being hit by a crit or Field. Also it gives your snowballer free reign to stack damage.

Pros:

 * Relative easy high damage output
 * Very little RNG reliance, since a lot of the damage comes from snowballer buff
 * Has the potential to face FAWs with some upgrades

Cons:

 * Does prefer UR cards, so it can be a bit harder to build
 * Completely devestated by Fields, though pretty much a lot of teams are
 * Can take a little while to get the damage ramped up
 * If the snowballer dies you're screwed.

Entry-level FAW killing teams
These teams are for players looking to start killing FAWs. I will move forward assuming that you are capable of killing your own AWs, as this will affect card choice. These teams will not be very stable but they should get the job in 1-2 BPs. Note that unless there is a SR with the Witch Hunt skill, you will need at least 1-2 UR/HUR/GUR level of cards to be able to handle FAWs, or unless you have certain powerhouse SR level cards (Unleashers or the infamous Lilim)

Advanced Beatdown/Crit Team
Essentially better version of the 3 teams mentioned before. Basically you'll be replacing parts of the teams with UR/GSR/HUR/GUR equivalents of cards mentioned. Since you can your own AWs, it means it is possible to acquire FAWs via heart drops. WIth some luck that means you can build a HUR/GUR, or at least have one UR card from an event.

Since this is basically a retool of the mentioned team, instead of listing example teams I'll point out cards you should really be on the lookout for.

"Super Buffers"
These are cards that buff both ATK and Def. They can be acquired both from Summons or Events . The event cards will need awakenings in order to have a respectable buff amount.

"Multi Proc Critters" These are cards that can proc their crits multiple times. A lot of critters in the game only have 1 proc, but some of them can proc multiple times, or even infinitely. Being able to crit more than once is hugely important, since it effecitvely can double a card's potential damage output.

"Snowballers"
HUR/GUR version of the abovementioned snowballers are incredibly strong. With a simple 200-300% buffer they can hit close to damage cap, and GUR version can actaully hold their own against FAWs even without buffs. If an event ever features one, they are definitely worth picking up.

Buff Stacking Teams
These teams involve stacking multiple powerful buffers. Buffs stack multiplicatively, this means if you proc a 200% and a 300% buffer you'll be doing 12x damage. As such a second or even third buffer on a team can dramatically stack damage. In conjunction with powerful attackers, a Buff stacking team can reach blitz levels of damage.
 * Buffer
 * Buffer
 * Attacker/Buffer
 * Attacker/Support
 * Support

How to Acquire/Play:
You'll probably want your Buffers to be URs. You can find them from Summons and Ranking Rewards. As far as I know, the only UR buffers that can be acquired outside of those means are Rikayu ,Elemental Queen, and Huang Long .

Your secondary Buffer can be SR/HSR, but UR is obv better.

Attackers should be Critters or AoE. Critters will probably hit for damage cap once both buffers have procced, and AoE cards should be hitting for 300k-600k + depending on the rarity of the card. URs can be earned from Events and Summons, or you can use existing HSRs.

The Support should either be a delayer or a shielder. Both can be found from events, or summons as well. In my opinion, debuffers and healers dont see that much play in FAW teams.

Pros:

 * Multiple Buff procs means that even basic taps will do a lot of damage
 * Capable of doing high over kill damage
 * If a defense buffer is used you'll have decent surviability as well

Cons:

 * Super RNG reliant, since both buffers need to proc before FAW killing damage output can be reached.
 * Archwitch Field dumpsters you
 * Stacking buffers seems nice, but there is a much more efficient way of building a team revolving around multiple buffs.

Enter the Unleasher: The transition from Janky teams to Powerful Blitz teams
'''Unleashers are a type of card that unleash the skills of other cards. These cards can singlehandly change a basic beatdown team into a powerful blitz-level team. If you are lucky enough to pull one from a Summon, or if there's one in an Event you should definitely look to acquire one. '''

Full team Unleasher Blitz
This team revolves around using a Full team unleasher and a team that has a lot of buffing and attacking members. The idea is to have a buffer or two proc, then use the unleasher to activate all attackers and buffers, resulting in massive damage.
 * Full Team Unleasher
 * Buffer
 * Buffer/Attacker
 * Attacker
 * Attacker/Support

How to Acquire/Play:
The team looks a beatdown/buff stacker team on the surface, but the full team unleasher basically doubles everything that those teams could do. Full Team Unleashers I believe are Summon exclusive, so you're pretty much only making this team if you got lucky with a roll and want to make this team.

Your buffers should strong buffers, see above for examples. You only need one, especially if your attackers are strong. However if you want to go for maximum overkill or if your attackers are lacking you can put two.

The attackers should be 1 AoE and the rest Critters. The AoE should take care of the minions and the Critters will burst down the FAW herself. See above for examples.

I don't really consider a support nessecary on this team, since it's designed to blitz. If you want to use one however, use a delayer so that the Unleasher can double her effect.

Note that Unleashers do not proc other Unleashers. This is why I think putting two in a team isn't that great. (though if they did proc on other unleashers that'd be broken heh.)

Pros:

 * Incredibly Fast Kill potential, can win in 2-3 turns
 * Can overkill with ease
 * Can be built over an existing Beatdown team once Unleasher is qcuired
 * Not that vulnerable to Fields because everything is unleashed at once

Cons:

 * Very RNG reliant
 * If the Unleasher is killed off you're probably screwed, or at least lose a lot of damage potential

One Buff to Rule them All
This is singlehandly the most infamous team type in Valk Crusade, and is easily one of the best and safest FAW killing teams. The idea revolves using one Buffer, and several Single Target Unleashers along with Shielders to keep enemy skills away. If you want the "perfect" FAW team, this is it. It's a bit brain dead and a bit boring, but you can't argue with its effectiveness.
 * Buffer/Self Buffer
 * Single Unleasher
 * Single Unleasher
 * Single Unleasher/Shielder
 * Shielder

How to Acquire/Play:
I think I've talked about Buffers so much at this point you should all be PhDs on buffers. The best buffer to use is a Super Buffer(buffs ATK/DEF), but any UR or better buffer will work. UR Self Buffers also work, but it's a bit more risky since if that card dies you're screwed.

The Single Unleashers are the bread and butter of this team. Whenever one procs, hit it, and proc your Buffer. Single Unleashers make appearances in Events a lot. You should look to farm them whenever you can. They also exist in Summons as well. Note that SR versions also exist, but UR is prefferable.

Shielders can be found from Events or Summons.

A personal suggestion/note: You can throw in a snowballer as well for either variety sakes, or an easier time reaching overkill damage.

Pros:

 * Extremely Safe build.
 * If Using a super buffer, your cards become super tanky as well
 * Field Resistant: Even if you get fielded you can pop your unleashers again and be ready to kick ass again
 * Decently fast: a few buff procs should be all you need to hit damage cap
 * Overkills with ease

Cons:

 * Not... many... really.
 * Hard to build: You need a lot of unleashers and shielders, which both tend to be FAW reward from events
 * Braindead. You might get bored of the game if you run this ;A;

Playing vs FAWs
FAWs play differently to AWs and have a bit more advanced mechanics, along with some more decision making avaiable to the player. The main thing to judge with is team safety. How safe is your team right now? Do you have a Shielder still up? Is the enemy delayed? How high is your damage? Depending on how confident you feel, you can do several things:
 * 1)        Straight kill. Do you best to straight up kill the FAW. The FAW poses the greatest threat usually, since she can hit for a massive AoE and also Field your entire team.
 * 2)        Kill the Minions early. The minions use skills that can be pretty annoying and they can eat up shield procs. Using a skill early or targeting them early will make killing the FAW herself easier.
 * 3)        Kill the Minions later for Overkill. If you're confident with your team/have safety, you can wait for skills and buffs to proc so you can inflict more damage against the minions for a better score.
 * 4)        Maximum Overkill: You hit the minions after all your buffs have procced and you're reaching damage cap. You then hit the FAW as low as possible before killing so you can kill her for maximum overkill as well.

Last note: Stacking HUR/GURs Usually Works
This last part is more of a disclaimer to remind me you that these builds do not need to be followed to the letter. For the longest time the team I used didn't match any of these builds, and was just a collection of UR/GUR cards with an HSR thrown in. The team had pretty good consistency and I could usually aim for a decent amount of overkill. It was After this event I replaced Elsa with GUR Elemental Queen and I've been stomping FAWs with ease. Essentially, if you have several UR/HUR/GUR cards that have good synergy with each other, just throw them together and you should have a good team simply due to how powerful HUR+ cards tend to be on their own.
 * GUR Speedster
 * GUR Summer Oracle
 * UR Prometheus
 * UR Pala
 * HSR Elsa