Deck Guides/AW and FAW Teams

I'm not sure of the appropriateness of creating a wiki page that's more of a guide than 'raw information' so I'll be placing this here. I had originally created this guide for an image board, however I find the 1500 character limit per post very restrictive.

=Getting Started=

Archwitches are boss-type enemies with large amounts of health and are capable of dealing huge amounts of damage to an unprepared deck. As such, certain techniques and approaches may be needed to defeat them reliably. This guide will outline several common deck archetypes.

It is beyond the scope of any practical guide to list every single card combination or method of damaging an archwitch. For that reason this guide will be restricted to the more common card combinations and practical solutions to defeating archwitches while balancing speed, reliability, and obtainability.

Obviously in any situation where this guide mentions HSR Critters, HSR Healers, or HSR Buffers, UR or HUR versions of those cards can be used instead. Also cards such as Skill Unleashers can be substituted into any deck type.

While this guide will be focusing on the major deck archetypes, many hybrid options exist such as adding turn skippers to a blitz deck for an increase in reliability at the expense of speed, adding a buffer to a debuff deck for an increase in speed at the expense of reliability, or adding an AoE buffer to a beatdown deck for an increase in damage and reliability at the expense of using more difficult to obtain cards.

Cards that have conditional procs such as Battle Start or Near Defeat are generally bad for a standard deck as when the card's proc conditions are not met, the card is dead weight in your deck. Uriel is a prime example of this, as 30% of the time she is an excellent buffer yet 70% of the time she'll do nothing for your team. For comparison, a standard 15% proc chance SR buffer such as Himiko has a 38.6% chance of proccing in the first 3 turns and a 80.3% chance of proccing in the first 10 turns. There is an obscure deck type involving 4x Uriel with a max attack 15x event killer however this deck type requires a large jewel investment for each event and isn't very practical.

Attack has a much larger impact on cards than defense. Due to this, it's generally better to max the attack of all of your offensive cards before looking at defense. An exception to this is for 0* SR 200% AoE buffers that are dying in 1 hit, as 10-20 defense arcana can help them live for an extra round.

Sources of damage bonuses include elemental Buildings (for up to +40% with 2 at level 10), max friendship for +5%, battle potion for +20% for 7 days for 100 jewels, and Unit Bonuses.

A number of short sample videos demonstrating various deck types can be downloaded here. Eventually I might upload a bunch of youtube videos and link them.

=Deck Metrics=

Speed
A very important aspect to any deck, as defeating an AW in 10 seconds versus 4 minutes will have a major impact on the amount of return a players gets for their time investment in VC.

Overkill
The amount of damage a player deals to an AW beyond the AW's base health. For regular AW, if a player deals ~950,000 damage they will receive ~5,000 points. On the other hand if they deal ~940,000 + 999,999 damage to the AW, they will receive ~7,700 points. This used to be a major concern for rankers before the introduction of FAW as each BP spent beyond a certain point would cost the player swords, jewels, or time. With the introduction of FAW for 0 bp however, the amount of points earned per bp spent is not as important as it used to be.

For FAW, it is generally better to simply try to defeat her as quickly as possible as the ever present threat of AoE skills can result in your sudden defeat.

Obtainability
Certain cards are much easier to get than others.
 * Jewels: are occasionally given to players as gifts from nubee in small quantities, however the main source of Jewels is with money.  This can then be used to purchase random cards at a high price unless a player is lucky.
 * Goddess Worship: allows a player to get free SR cards by being members of an active alliance that donates regularly.
 * Archwitch: Roughly 75% of the SR cards you will get from an Archwitch will be the Archwitch's card.  As this is one of the most common ways of getting SR cards for free, Archwitch cards will often form the backbone of a player's deck.
 * Limited Enemies: Nubee will occasionally have events where a player can encounter Limited Enemies somewhere on the map.
 * Other Events: Other events that can award a player SR cards includes Eldritch Keys, Slots, and Item Exchanges such as Dolls or Cookies.

Nubee is constantly holding new events every 2 to 3 weeks with new cards to obtain. Just because a current event may not offer any easily obtainable cards that a player can use in their deck doesn't mean future events won't offer something a player may find useful.

=Debuff Deck=

By constantly reducing the AWs attack, this deck type will attempt to reach a point where it is healing damage faster than the AW can deal it. With enough debuffs, event the AWs special damage dealing abilities can effectively be ignored. A standard setup for this deck type is 1 HSR attack card, 2 or 3 attack debuffers, and 1 or 2 AoE healers.

Attacker
Should be a 1* or higher HSR with max attack. Obtaining attack bonuses from your Elemental Buildings, Unit Bonuses, and maxing the friendship of the card can greatly increase the speed at which you defeat the AW.

Archwitches have an ability called Archwitch Field which removes all buffs and debuffs from the field. Archwitch field is only triggered by having buffs of some sort, not debuffs. For this reason, having buffers on a debuff deck is not recommended.
 * HR 4* Event Attack Card: Recent events have offered 5 copies of an R card that receives a 2x damage bonus against AW as an R or a 3x damage bonus as an HR.  These cards loose their damage bonus when the event ends.  These cards are obtained by completing the event map, progress points, eldritch keys, or other event mechanics.  Using such a card as the attacker in your debuff deck will result in battles that can take over 90 turns (the AW runs away at turn 100) and requires you to level up a card that looses it's usefulness when the current event is over.  The only redeeming factor of using an HR event card as your attack card is that she can be used without having to spend attack arcana to max a cards attack.
 * 20%/350%: Cards that have a 20% chance of proccing a 350% damage ability are very common Archwitches, which make these cards easier to get than many other options.  At 20,000 total attack (that's including the passive bonuses) such a card will average 55 turns to defeat an AW.Cards/SR/Deal DMG (All)
 * 30%/350%: Cards that have a 30% chance of proccing a 350% damage ability are much less common, but still obtainable.  During the Artemis event (expired) you could obtain her from the Celestial Slots.  You can also get Sekhmet from the Amusement Park Coin Exchange.  At 20,000 attack, this card will take around 45 turns to defeat an AW.  These cards also have the advantage of being able to easily transition to a blitz deck when a player eventually gets SR buffers.
 * 20%/350% Life Drain: These cards are similar to the standard 20%/350% cards however are far less common.  As their ability includes a life gaining component, they fit well in a debuff deck that's only using 1 healer.
 * Multi Proc Critical Damage cards: While these cards don't deal as much damage as 30%/350% cards over the course of 40 turns, they do transition exceptionally well to blitz decks when a player eventually upgrades to a faster deck type.  A 20,000 attack 2 proc critter can defeat an AW in ~70 turns while a 3 proc critter can defeat an AW in ~55 turns.  An infinite proc critter such as Snow White or Scylla will be even faster.  Examples of 2 proc critters include Sophie and Elisabeth.

Healer
Cards/R/Heal (Team) Cards/SR/Heal (Team) HR healers can be used if you haven't acquired any good SR healers yet. AoE healers are better than single target healers. If you need more than 4 heals to defeat an AW, you'll want infinite proc healers. If you only need 8 heals from your 2 healers, limited proc healers are fine.

Attack Debuffers
Cards/R/ATK Down (All) Cards/SR/ATK Down (All) HR Attack Debuffers exist and are relatively easy to get from AW chests. The typical attack debuffer is 3 procs max. With 5 debuffs, Witch Wave (the high damage single target AW ability) deals around ~9,000 damage and she taps for ~400 damage. With 6 debuffs, Witch Wave deals around ~7.500 damage and she taps for ~300 damage.

Pros

 * Very easy to make compared to other deck types as you can use up to 4 HR cards.
 * You only need to max the attack of a single card.
 * HR cards require less medals to max their skill than SR cards.

Cons

 * Very slow, can take between 25 turns and 90 turns to defeat an AW depeding upon your attack card.
 * Low to nonexistent overkill damage.
 * Because it takes 5 or 6 attack debuffs to reduce AW wave (the high damage single target AW ability) to a survivable level, you are vulnerable to it. However since you have 2 healers and 2 attack debuffers, you have some card redundancy which can help you still win in such situations.  Maxing the attack of a second card can provide some limited attacker redundancy however this should only be done if you have a large excess of spare medals and only for an HSR card.

=Debuff Deck for Fantasy AW=

This deck follows a similar philosophy to the basic Debuff Deck however requires higher quality cards for dealing with FAW and more offense to deal the required 3.5 million damage needed for victory.

Because FAW have much more health than AW, such a deck should have 2 good damage cards. A standard setup is 2 attack cards, 1 or 2 good healers, and 1 or 2 good attack debuffers. As this setup sacrifices a healer or debuffer for increased damage, you may need to increase your cards defense some to compensate.

Due to the slow speed of this deck, you'll often want to flee FAW battles after dealing 51% damage. If it's a FAW you found, you should be fleeing anyways so that you can exchange FAW with your comrades/alliance. If it's a FAW someone else sent to you, other players are likely to be fighting it so she should still end up being defeated. Ignore the message that claims you loose troops when fleeing from FAW, as it's a lie.

Attacker
Ideally should be 2 30%/350% max attack HSRs, or possibly 20%/400% max attack URs if you can manage it. With 2 30%/350% cards at 22,127 total attack it will average 48 turns to deal 1.8 million damage. With 2 30%/350% cards at 32,998 total attack it will average 29 turns to deal 1.8 million damage. A max attack UR or HUR has +50% attack compared to an HSR which easily makes up for the loss of the sr force unit bonus and slightly lowered proc chance.

Debuffer
Cards/SR/ATK Down (All) HR attack debuffers die in 2 or 3 hits and only have a 10% proc chance, so aren't really appropriate for taking on FAW. You'll want 1* or higher SR debuffers. You can use either 1 or 2 debuffers, however from my limited testing of this deck type 2 healers seems to be more consistent given the low proc change (10%) of infinite proc healers.

Healers
Cards/SR/Heal (Team) You'll want to use 1* or higher SR healers as they need to have enough health to survive an AW AoE after attack debuffs and for the +15% attack unit bonus for having a deck of 5 SR/HSR cards. Because fights against FAW with this sort of deck will typically take over 50 turns, it is suggested to use 2 healers: 1 infinite proc 10%/70% healer and 1 15%/70% limited proc healer. The 15% proc healer greatly helps with consistency, however you need to count each time you use her heal so that you don't find yourself being hit with an FAW AoE with no heals available. It is possible to use 2 limited proc healers or 2 infinite proc healers, you just need to adjust your play style accordingly.

Sample damage numbers for a FAW Debuff Deck
Damaging the FAW
 * 32,998 attack 350% proc = ~74,700 damage per proc
 * 22,127 attack 350% proc = ~46,250 damage per proc
 * 32,998 attack tap = ~16,150 damage per tap
 * 22,127 attack tap = ~9,250 damage per tap

With no debuffs
 * 34,998 defense card vs faw tap = ~2,700 damage
 * 20,044 defense card vs faw tap = ~3,750 damage
 * 34,998 defense card vs faw AoE = ~10,800 damage
 * 20,044 defense card vs faw AoE = ~14,500 damage

With 1 debuff
 * 34,998 defense card vs faw tap = ~1,750 damage
 * 20,044 defense card vs faw tap = ~2,350 damage
 * 34,998 defense card vs faw AoE = ~7,200 damage
 * 20,044 defense card vs faw AoE = 9,650 damage

With 2 debuffs
 * 34,998 defense card vs faw tap = ~1,150 damage
 * 20,044 defense card vs faw tap = ~1,480 damage
 * 34,998 defense card vs faw AoE = ~4,500 damage
 * 20,044 defense card vs faw AoE = ~6,400 damage

With 3 debuffs
 * 34,998 defense card vs faw tap = ~790 damage
 * 20,044 defense card vs faw tap = ~980 damage
 * 34,998 defense card vs faw AoE = ~2,930 damage
 * 20,044 defense card vs faw AoE = ~3,800 damage

Pros

 * Viable deck type if the game refuses to give you AoE buffers or Lilims
 * If you were in an active alliance during Nyx and played during Artemis this deck type is moderately easy to build
 * You can also get Sekhmet from the Amusement Park Coin Exchange for 72,000 coins (36,000 coins each). Do not get her until you have enough coins for 2, because in the amount of time it takes you to get 72,000 coins, your situation and what cards you want might change.  She is however very good for Alliance Battles and Alliance Duels, so it's not a huge loss.

Cons

 * To improve the consistency of this deck you'll need to max the defense of all of your cards which costs a lot of medals
 * SR Attack debuffers are even rarer than SR AoE 200% buffers depending upon your luck and activity during Nyx. 30%/350% cards are also rare unless you were active during Artemis
 * horrible overkill
 * Slow, 2x 32998 attack 30%/350% cards average 29 turns for 1.8 mil damage. 2x 22127 attack 30%/350% cards average 48 turns for 1.8 mil damage.
 * Because 3 attack debuffs aren't enough to reduce AW Wave (the high damage single target AW ability) to a survivable level even with max defense, you are vulnerable to it. However since you have 2 attack cards and either 2 healers or 2 attack debuffers, you have some card redundancy and can still win.

=Beatdown Deck=

By denying the AW or FAW turns, a player can allow themselves ample time to defeat the AW or FAW without interruption. A standard setup for this deck type is 1 HSR 300% self buffer with max attack, 3 or 4 quality turn skippers, 0 or 1 quality healer (if you can't get a 4th turn skipper), and 0 or 1 200% AoE buffer if you can manage to get one.

300% Self Buffer
Cards/SR/ATK Up (Own) Nubee occasionally offers easy to get self buffers as AWs, limited enemies, and AB rewards. You can currently get an HSR Matador from the Amusement Park Coin Exchange for 72,000 coins (36,000 coins each). Do not get her until you have enough coins for 2, because in the amount of time it takes you to get 72,000 coins, there's a decent chance nubee will have an easy to obtain self buffer. Also when you do get 72,000 coins if the current event doesn't offer a 300% self buffer, look at when the current event is ending before spending so many coins in case the next event offers one. I do not recommend using HR self buffers as they have less soldiers, nubee offers 300% self buffers relatively often, and you'll want the +15% attack from the SR Force bonus. The 300% Self Buffer can eventually be transitioned to a blitz team when you get the cards. You can substitute cards such as UR 250% elemental buffers or 200% AoE buffers, though these types of cards are generally much harder to get. By using an attacker of the opposite element you can deal ~30% more damage.

Turn Skippers
Cards/SR/Turn Skip Turn skips stack, which means you can activate your turn skippers the moment they proc and you'll still get the full amount of turns skipped. Ideally you want skippers who skip 3 turns per proc with 2 procs each, as that gives you 6 turns per card. With 3 such cards, that's 18 turns where the AW can't cast AW Field (which removes buffs), aw wave, or attack. 18 turns is plenty of time for your max attack self buffer to kill the AW, though obviously 24 turns is better. Because you can have up to 24 turns where the AW can't attack, using SR turn skippers is okay.

Optional Cards
Cards/SR/Heal (Team) An SR/HSR healer can be used instead of a 4th turn skipper if you are having difficulty getting 4. The healer can help keep your team at max health while you wait for your self buffer and turn skippers to proc. You may want to use a cautious approach on activating your turn skippers until your self buffer has procced as you only have 18 turns of skips with this setup.

Cards/SR/ATK Up (Team) A 200% AoE buffer can give you an alternative source of damage if your 300% self buffer refuses to proc which greatly increases this deck's reliability versus regular AW. A 200% AoE buff, when added on top of a 300% buff, allows a card to deal large amounts of damage per tap enabling this deck type to defeat a Fantasy Archwitches with a moderate success rate. To defeat FAW like this you are reliant on both your 300% buffer and AoE buffer to proc, making reliability against FAW difficult. 200% AoE buffers can be very rare.

Sample damage numbers for a Beatdown Deck

 * 32,998 attack card = ~16,150 damage per tap
 * 22,127 attack card = ~9,250 damage per tap
 * 31,998 attack card with 300% buff = ~87,700 damage per tap
 * 20,039 attack card with 300% buff = ~48,000 damage per tap


 * 31,998 attack card with 300% buff and a 200% buff = ~270,000 damage per tap

Pros

 * At times, these decks can be easy to make depending upon what nubee has made available
 * You only need to max the attack of a single card
 * Takes 16 to 30 turns to defeat an AW

Cons

 * Can have reliability issues if your self buffer refuses to proc
 * Can't reliably defeat faw unless you have an AoE buffer which are rare and even then you need a bit of luck
 * Low Overkill

=Blitz Deck=

Rather than trying to mitigate the AW's damage and abilities, a pure blitz deck attempts to simply defeat the AW as quickly as possible by stacking high damage cards and buffs.

A typical blitz deck contains 2 to 5 buffers with 0 to 3 good damage cards. Some players prefer to have a turn skipper or healer on their team, sacrificing some speed for the sake of increased reliability. 2 200% AoE buffers with 3 Critters is common.

Buffers

 * Lilim: A 1,000% attack buff to a single random card.  To properly use Lilim all 5 cards on your attack team need to be at max attack for any sort of reliability from her.  While the random nature of her buff makes it impossible to depend upon her to buff any specific card, this small issue is easily mitigated by the sheer magnitude of the strength of her buff.  Whichever card she buffs essentially damages like a crit with each tap.
 * Cards/SR/ATK Up (Single): A 300% buff to a single random card.  The random nature of these buffs coupled with the much smaller buff strength when compared to Lilim makes these cards inferior to 200% AoE buffers.
 * 200% AoE Buffs: Please note that some of the cards in that link aren't 200% AoE anytime buffers.  A 200% AoE buff means that when she procs, she will always buff your damage cards which gives her a level of certainty 300% random buffers don't have.  Since she buffs your entire team, you only have to max the attack of your primary damage cards.

Damage Cards

 * Cards/SR/Critical DMG (Single): These cards are commonly made available by nubee so they will oftentimes form the backbone of your Blitz Deck.  Nubee has begun making 2 proc and 3 proc critters commonly available as Archwitches so single proc crit cards should be avoided.


 * Cards/SR/ATK Up (Own): When combined with 200% AoE buffers a self buffer can deal a large amount of damage per tap and are fairly common.  Please keep in mind that you can only attack with a single card per turn, so using multiple self buffers is not recommended.  Also, if you have a Lilim on your team and she buffs a max attack card for 1,000%, you'll want to attack with the Lilim buffed card rather than a 300% buffed card, making your self buffer worthless in this situation.  Lilims are very rare though so this isn't likely to be an issue.


 * 30% proc chance 350% damage cards: Their high proc chance can make up for their lower damage.

Sample damage numbers for a Blitz Deck

 * 22,137 attack criter + 200% buff = ~510,000 damage per crit
 * 31,998 attack criter + 200% buff = ~740,000 damage per crit
 * 22,095 attack 350% AoE + 200% buff = ~170,000 damage per proc
 * 31,998 attack 350% AoE + 200% buff = ~250,000 damage per proc
 * 22,095 attack 350% AoE + 2x 200% buff = ~545,000 damage per proc
 * 31,998 attack 350% AoE + 2x 200% buff = ~770,000 damage per proc
 * 22,112 attack card + 300% buff + 200% buff = ~190,000 damage per tap
 * 31,998 attack card + 300% buff + 200% buff = ~270,000 damage per tap
 * 22,095 attack card + 2x 200% buffs = ~140,000 damage per tap
 * 31,998 attack card + 2x 200% buffs = ~200,000 damage per tap
 * 22,095 attack card + 3x 200% buffs = ~450,000 damage per tap
 * 31,998 attack card + 3x 200% buffs = ~700,000 damage per tap
 * 31,998 attack card + Lilim buff = ~230,000 damage per tap
 * 22,137 attack card + Lilim buff + 200% buff = ~510,000 damage per tap
 * 31,998 attack card + Lilim buff + 200% buff = ~700,000 damage per tap
 * 22,095 attack 350% AoE + Lilim buff = ~615,000 damage per proc
 * 31,998 attack 350% AoE + Lilim buff = ~880,000 damage per proc

HURs
 * 44,998 attack criter + 200% buff = ~970,000 damage per crit
 * 44,998 attack 400% AoE + 200% buff = ~400,000 damage per proc
 * 44,998 attack card + 200% buff = ~89,000 damage per proc

Damage from activateable abilities is capped at 999,999. Damage from attacks is capped at 700k-800k damage unless you have elemental advantage or the witch hunt skill.

Pros

 * Can defeat an AW in 1 to 10 turns and a FAW in 1 to 20 turns
 * Generally considered the end game goal in regards to defeating FAW
 * Every second you spend defeating a FAW is a second you aren't checking the screen for newly sent FAW or hunting your own. As the fastest deck type possible that doesn't involve a 15x event killer, these decks are ideal for ranking

Cons

 * Can be extremely difficult to make as cards such as 200% AoE buffers and Lilims are very rare.
 * Due to the extreme rarity of good buffers, using 0* SR buffers isn't unheard of.
 * You have to max the attack of all of your offensive cards and possibly their defense which is expensive and time consuming.