Grand Worms : An Arachnids’ deck

Greeting everyone,

Last updated : January 5, 2022

V.01.2

(Updated information, January 5, 2022) : general opinion on the new patch, data updated accordingly, approach against Tagari as well as other races added, etc.

This is a guide for an arachnids’ deck that I have played a while now. In this article, I will discuss the overall understanding of this deck, its play style, strength/weakness and the strategies against each race. During my test, this deck has a decent win rate against all races, and more importantly, it is really fun to play! With this guide, I hope to encourage more players to witness the beauty of the Princess of Hope, who shouldn’t bring hope but horror to the enemy.

This is not a starter deck, nor is it designed for beginners. If you just started this game with arachnids, I advise you to check out some other guide below first, yet this guide might still give you some insight to play arachnids in general :

(1) Starter deck made by Trismegistos

https://www.glimpse-luna.com/tavern/guides/giant-and-friends-an-arachnid-deck

(2) My comment on the previous deck : some possible variation of it

https://www.glimpse-luna.com/tavern/guides/arachnids-possible-strategy-comment-on-trismegistos-guide

(3) How to unlocking arachnid guide made by Deadweight

https://www.glimpse-luna.com/tavern/guides/guide-to-unlocking-arachnid

Without further a due, that starts the guide :

First of all, the decklist :

DECKLIST: Lisana - Qessa - Kalon, Lasthella, Lasthos - Alchemia, Klirhari, Lithana, Metallos, Szeshru, Thera, Xico - Agatha, Agatha, Aspos, Aspos, Diagrus, Emporiana, Exodus, Manestia, Qakrax, Rikven, Srasnis, Srasnis, Toxika, Xula, Xula - Ataxia Eggs, Frusos Helmet, Haikkul

General Idea:

Arachnids is the race with which the player has to focus on trading efficiently and performing aggressively. This deck emphasis on this object and makes Arachnids even more dreadful. Normally, a player who pushes has to be aware of the follow-up. Since the defender is fighting around his/her base, he/she can get the reinforcement much faster than the attacker. Thus, sometimes you might go too aggressively so that your reinforcement can’t help the army in the front line, which gave the enemy the chance to clean up your units without worrying about the counter-attack. However, with Lisana’s ability (less reinforcement for the adversary if your hero kill a unit this turn), you have a better chance to go much more aggressive than you can with another hero or race, since the opponent would also suffer from lack of units at his/her disposal.

The ideal situations for this deck are following : (1) with Lisana’s ability, you are aiming to exchange the enemy’s units faster than his/her reinforcement; (2) or with Lisana’s states (13 attack), you are aiming to snipe down the enemy’s hero or guardian. In the first scenario, once you have a superior quantity of units over your opponent (not necessarily in terms of states, like more masters or pioneers, but the number of the present units), it should be an easy game as long as you don’t make a crucial mistake after that, since they wouldn’t have enough unit to trade properly or at least stop your push. And for the latter, if the first situation is not the case, you could seek the opportunity to take down their hero or guardian. It’s hard to do it in one turn since Lisana has only 2M, so your goal should be employing Thera’s paralyze to stun their hero, and then position Lisana in the right hexagon. It should be a check mate if you succeed. Same as for the guardian, the only difference is you wouldn’t necessarily have to use Thera to kill guardian.

You should always avoid turning the battlefront into what I call as “trench battle”, which is the situation that both players are restricted to their own zone. This deck or arachnids in general are not good at it, and the disadvantage of it is even worse after the new patch (V.01.2). Try to mobilize your unit rather than holding in a defensive position while neither of the parties can maximize their merit. I couldn’t emphasize more on this, you should also search for any possible path to break through your opponent’s line.

General Idea of V.01.2

Not all changes work well as the developers anticipated, but it’s true that aggressive playstyle has become slightly harder to play after the new patch. Your attack would be more difficult to overwhelm the tank build. This means that you should be even more patient, as an authentic spider should be, and waiting for the perfect moment to attack. 1M units, however, have lots of problems even with higher states : they could easily lose central or partial control of the map, and they are always clunky when it comes to attacking or even counter-attacking. Unlike in the last patch, unplanned assault could still lead you to a somehow advantageous position, this patch punishes you more if you are a careless player.

Although V.01.2 in general isn’t in favor of this deck, Arachnids has received a significant buff in this patch. Having the new fellowship, Lithana and Metallos have the top tier states among all pioneers who thus indisputably replace some of the worse pioneers(further explanation will be in the pioneer section). Qakrax is also “objectively” better than Lika right now. Personally, I’m not a big fan of this part of the changes, since it doesn’t really provide the uniqueness of each card yet makes some choices simply unplayable. I know that somebody would argue that they are “underestimated” or something like that, but I’m not focusing on the states but on their particularity here : of course you can pick two similar cards at the same time (Lika and Qakraz for example), if you are playing an after death deck, but they are so identical that makes them boring to play with…

Hero :

There are currently three heroes for arachnids. Since this deck is literally built around Lisana, I will not discuss the other heroes here.

Lisana, the Princess of Hope (13/8/2/1) is a relatively fragile hero in this game. We might think this makes Lisana unplayable, however, since the hero worth 10 moral, we wouldn’t lose our hero anyway unless it’s a decent bargain for that (opponent’s hero, guardian or you can save your other units by sacrificing your hero, thus make a meaningful numerical gap of units). Although it’s true that you should pay more attention on her to avoid being assassinated by two or three 3M units, she could be played like any other hero.

Her ability is reduce opponent's reinforcement by one if she slays a unit. Having right unit in right position is crucial in this game. Lisana's job is to avoid your opponent from doing that perfectly. Both forcing your opponent to sacrifice some reinforcement, by pushing heavily on one side, which is the core of this deck, and reducing their army size while remaining ours, are the opportunity where Lisana's particularity can shine.

Guardian :

Guardian :

(1) Khanta Yiallore (7/13/0/1 : reduce masters’ defense by one)

Khanta Yiallore is not a bad guardian yet a less impactful one, especially when Arachnids have a better choice than him. He could neither provide decent base defense, since he only has 1R, nor enhance enough momentum in order to actualize a meaningful push.

(2) Kratos (10/10/0/2 : 2 AOE attack around the target)

Kratos has now become a useful guardian. His ability can grandly secure your base which allows you to move even more units pushing elsewhere. Therefore, do not consider him as merely a defensive style guardian, he could also be a considerable choice in an aggressive deck. However, please be aware that 3M heroes such as Alnarasz eph from Naphas and Nuka from Tagari could easily take down your Kratos. You will have to pay additional attention when the game comes close around 10 moral left.

(3)Qessa (6/15/0/1 : boost warriors’ attack by one)

In my opinion, Qessa’s ability is the most meaningful among all three guardians. This doesn’t mean that he has the best one, but that his ability is the most likely choice to be realized in every match. By enhancing each warriors’ attack by one, it should be significantly easier to make efficient trade not only at the early stage, but also when the situation of the game turns to the “trench fight” scene.

(4) Choice of the guardian

Choosing Qessa is an intuitive decision. Since all of the units in your deck are disposal (yes, including your hero), we only care about killing the units efficiently but not to try to keep them alive. In this sense, Kratos is inferior to Qessa. Khanta Yiallore might be a considerable pick, but I think even Kratos is more desirable than him.

If you haven’t unlocked the third guardian (Qessa) or don’t want to invest that much on arachnids, but you still lust for Lisana’s beauty, you could use Kratos instead. It’ll be slightly different when it comes to the execution, but the general idea should remain the same.

Master :

There are five masters to pick right now. My choice is Kalon, Lasthella, and Lasthos. I’ll explain my understanding of each master down below.

(1)Frusia (7/9/2/1 : protect range attack for allies that stands left and right to her)

She has become a decent card after the new patch V.01.2, but she still doesn’t fit in this deck’s style. As a protector, she is used as a much slower push with a bunch of units. Her advantage shows up when there is a trench fight, which is not really what we plan to do for our deck.

(2) Kalon (9/5/2/1 : dash after the attack; you can enhance one defense with the fellowship bonus)

Kalon is a truly decent card that makes her useable for many other arachnids’ decks. The dash skill makes her possible to trade for some units without consequence, which is exactly what we are searching for right now. There is no reason not to pick her.

(3) Lasthella (6/7/2/1 : decrease the opponent's time by 15 seconds when slay a unit; enhance one attack after the fellowship bonus)

Lasthella has mediocre state compared to other masters. She is not bad, but lack of powerful ability. With that being said, her fellowship with Lasthos, which is essential in this deck, gives her the ticket to join in this deck. Her ability regarding the time management is useful in some cases, which give additional pressure on your opponent's side.

(4) Lasthos (6/6/3/1: increase your time by 15 seconds when slay a unit ; enhance one attack after the fellowship bonus))

Lasthos has 3M which makes him a huge menace for everyone, especially when arachnids are a race that only has limited choice when it comes to 3M units. His movement should be used to assassinate high value threat or take down the opponent’s hero. His 6 defense can occasionally prevent him from dying easily. Same as Lasthella, Lasthos' ability has an impact on your time management, which can sometimes provide you some extra time to plan your next move.

(5) Ziuishra (8/7/2/2 : enhance her attack whenever she kills a unit)

This deck is not designed for a range based approach, but requires lots of melee scenes. This makes Ziuishra’s marksman label kind of awkward. Additionally, most of the time every unit would die fast enough that Ziuishra will not have the chance to really stack up his state. With that being said, Ziuishra has become a powerful card in trench fight scenario.

Pioneers and Warriors:

I won’t explain each card but only the most essential one.

(1) Xico (4/5/1/3 : assassinate other pioneers)

Although the general idea of this deck is not to kill units in a distance, Xico’s 3R is crucial for arachnids players to gain center control, which is also the only one of the two cards in arachnids that have 3R. Paradoxically, since he is that valuable, it is pretty likely that he will be one of the priority targets for your opponent, and thus he is probably not going to do any damage at the end. We add this card into the deck for his tactical value: do not hesitate, it’s worth trading him for the opponent’s 3M unit. Just like your hero, do not let him die too easily, but he is a really good bait for some higher value units.

(2) Thera (3/5/3/1 : paralyze attacked next turn)

Thera is one of my favorite units in this deck. The paralyze ability is a crucial element when you push forward. By forcing one unit (mostly opponent’s hero) staying in the same position until next turn, you can gain time to surround the object. I sometimes paralyze the hero with my Lisana coming forward in order to end this hopeless victim’s life. Spider is a pretty analogy here : you stun your target and see its desperate yet worthless struggle…

(3) Metallos (6/6/1/1, enhance adjacent melee units’ attack by one when she is dead) and Lithana (7/6/1/1) : Both of them get additional 1M with the fellowship bonus

Metallos and Lithana are two of the most powerful pioneers in terms of states right now. They could provide great pressure on the enemy’s pioneers, masters, and even hero and guardian. Lithana, on one hand, has nothing special but simply a beast in nowadays, Metallos, on the other hand, can be even more powerful if he can enhance your other 3M units such as Lasthos, Thera and Exodus. One attack really means a lot, especially to 3M units.

(4) Agatha (2/1/3/1, be aware that she can be 6/2/3/1 after stacking and with Qessa’s ability)

As one of the few 3M for arachnids, her jobs is mainly to bring down the opponent’s 3R units. She also provides decent ability to threaten isolated units or to maneuver your formation. The princess of kindness and strangers always aims to bring death for her guests.

(5) Exodus (3/1/3/1 : he will have 4 attack with Qessa’s ability; permeant attack )

In the present patch (V.01.2), Exodus received one attack nerf, which makes him unlikely to snipe down opponents’ high value units on his own. Therefore, although his 3M is still important for this deck, his ability should mostly be used as a pre-exchange for the opponent’s hero or other crucial units if necessarily. By reducing the hero’s defense in advance, you can give pressure on opponents if he/she wants to use the hero aggressively. It might be useful to try to enhance his attack by placing him next to suicidal Metallos.

Armor:

(1) Ataxia Eggs (add two attack for hermeticist)

Ideally, you should put it on Lasthella, but it’s fine to equip it on any of the other hermeticist if required. Enhance 2 attack is sometimes useful to cross over certain units defense, so that you won’t need two units to trade for one.

(2) Frusos Helmet (1 defense for melee unit)

(3) Haikkul (-1 defense for 2 attack for melee unit)

We can place these two armors on either Kalon or Lasthos (depends on my S5). It is also possible to put one or both of them on the other melee unit if needed. With these two pieces of armor combined together, Kalon and Lasthos can go to 11 or 9 damage without losing their defense. This makes their presence even more unbearable to the opponents.

Starting 5 and the starting position:

Starting 5 and the position at the start of the game is an art of your experience. Ideally, you should change your choices every time based on your opponent’s hero and guardian, your strategy of this particular game and your understanding of your possible opponent if that is the case. With that being said, here I’ll try to provide you the most memorizable possibility for this deck. You could find out your preference from this prototype after you gain some experience of this deck and of this game.

One of the guide members, Beernchips has written a comprehensive guide on starting 5 and the position a couple of days ago. If you want to know more about the basic logic of S5, you could check his article here :

https://www.glimpse-luna.com/tavern/guides/selecting-the-starting-five-s5

Regardless, since we don’t want to provide my choices for every occasion, which will make this guide even more unbearable, here is the universal Starting 5 against all four races. The only thing you have to keep in mind is whether you go first or not. Going for the left or right side is optional, I change it depends on my mood at that moment.

For this deck specifically, as you would see below, we have a pioneer focus S5 right now. It’s thus important to remember that certain guardians can weaken pioneers’ states which have even more impact on us. When we fight against Panu (12/7/0/2) from Tagari, Radiana (10/9/0/2) from Nordur, or Yasash Juz (13/6/0/2) from Naphas, you might want to change your starting 5 accordingly. The first two guardians reduce your pioneers’ defense by one, while the last one reduces your attack by one.

(1) Aggressive opening :

If you go first, this is my S5 and placement :

For someone who had read my previous guide, you would notice that I no longer bring most of the 3M units now. The reason is twofold : on the one hand, it’s more and more unlikely to snipe down crucial units in nowadays, since most of the players would only make these sorts of mistakes one or two times. It’s true that even if we can’t take any unit down in the first round, 3M could become a huge threat to your rival, yet we now have an even better choice after the patch : Lithana and Metallos.

Like I said above, these two pioneers have top tier states right now. This makes them possible to move forward on most occasions and do the same thing as usual. We still bring Xico to gain center control if possible. Kalon is chosen over Lasthos, because we would like to have her high attack to break through the enemy’s line, along with Lithana and Metallos. We also choose Thera for paralyzing opponent’s hero.

The ideal follow-up will be Xico advance one or two hexagons if possible; other units try to move forward in order to secure center control. Your hero could also push a litter bit if ideal. When moving forward, you could sacrifice one or two units maximum in the first round. You don’t want to suffer the numeric gap yourself, yet we should always stick with our goal : continue to bring pressure on your opponent. Metallos, in this case, should be your first choice to sacrifice, you could also try to enhance your Kalon and Thera’s attack if possible.

(2) Defensive opening

If you go second, and you suspect that the opponent has decent 3M units that might snipe you if you place in the front line, there are two options :

(I)

We don’t really want to separate your units to two sides that might not be able to help each other if your opponent makes a heavy push in turn one. This means that you will have to nonetheless put two units in the first line. In this case, we bring Thera who has 3M to offset the distance. She could help our main army even when she started in the opposite side.

Put your Aspos in the front line because it’s unlikely to be a priority in turn one. With 8 defense, normally it needs at least two units to take him down, which is not ideal for the attacker since we can reinforce ourselves much faster than him/her. Also you can gain a free use of Lisana’s ability. Compared to the previous version, I move him one hexagon closer to the center. This change is crucial, due to the fact that you lose too much partial control in the last position.

Kalon is a bait for the opponents. 6 defense is also not that easy to deal with at the beginning, especially when he stays on the edge. Even if he does get killed by one or two units, it’s still a promising use of Lisana’s ability. We choose Thera rather than other 3M units, because it is important to counter-attack when you go second. If your opponent’s hero pushes too aggressive, it will be the time to punish his/her careless with Thera’s paralyze with the faster reinforcement as the follow-up.

It’s possible that you may not even have safe hexagons for your three reinforcements if your opponent push heavily in turn one. In this kind of situation, you would have to move out from the other side (or the weaker side if both sides are attacked).

(II)

We use exactly the same starting five here. 6 attack is not easy to kill, plus you should be very happy if the rival actually trade them with their precious 3M units. We put Thera on the Metallos’ side to gain the bonus if ideal. Compared to the first option, this opening is actually harder for your opponent to push in the first round. You shouldn’t lose your center control as easy as you used to be with the previous version of the position.

Method against each race :

Like I said above, the starting 5 choices and the position could remain the same in every fight, as well as the overall strategy. Regardless, there are certain cards that you have to know in order to play against each race much more efficiently.

(1) Naphas :

Naphas is famous for their strength and their lack of mobility. It should be relatively easier to gain control, perhaps not the center but at least one side of the battlefield. However, you should always keep an eye on their hero, which in most cases will be Alnarasz Eph, a 3M hero with 2 damage AOE around the target. Our deck has lots of low health units, so we should be really careful to prevent his ambush. Both heroes will be able to kill each other alone in this case, but likely it would be Alnarasz Eph to launch the assault. Sometimes it would be better if you trade your hero with him at the beginning of the match, in order to avoid overwhelming calculation at the end game.

Strictly speaking, Lisana is not really vulnerable when you play against Alnarase Eph, especially when it comes close to the end game when both players have fewer than 10 morals. The only solution for this is, as usual, searching your way to break through. It would be a straight up loss if you continue to trade your units until the end (Believe me, I have tested it numerous of time with KS and his annoying dragon). You should make the effort before your destiny actually arrives.

(2) Nordur :

By far the most popular race these days, Nordur focus on their frightening range units yet also has a decent amount of 3M units which provides them a huge mobility to maneuver around. Arachnids normally has a weak opening against Nordur if you only have the starter deck. 3M units are essential here to break through their defense.

There are three really common 3M units that you have to keep in mind when you play against Nordur : (I)Night Prince, (II) Viktor Traudor, and (III) Runa The Seeker. When it comes to 3R, (IV) Lorik Bornbart is the one that will always appear on the battlefield. (V) Volgar The Seer is also a concern for some Arachnids decks.

(I)Night Prince(7/5/3/1 : assassinate other masters)

Basically, night prince is a guarantee to an at least equal trade. Kalon and Lasthella are disposable in this case for night prince, since the latter is also a big threat to our hero. Try not to let the night prince get your Lasthos (and, of course, your hero), but your other masters or Xico.

(II) Viktor Traudor (6/3/3/1)

6 attack is not the hugest threat to our masters, but it can still take down your important alone or with the help from Runa The Seeker. You can trade your Exodus with him at the early game. His priority target should be your Xico, which is not the worst trade, but not ideal at the same time.

(III) Runa The Seeker (2/1/3/2 : 9/3/3/2 if stacked with Fabyor's bonus)

Since your 3M units such as Exodus and Agatha have relatively law defense, you should try your best to save them from The Seeker for other higher value units. However, it is still possible to trade them with your Agatha if necessary.

(IV) Lorik Bormbart (8/3/1/3 : +1 defense with fellowship bonus)

And finally, the most annoying Nordur unit is Lorik Bormbart. His 8 attack and 3 range provide a no-man’s land. It will be desired to trade him with your Exodus or even your Lasthos. If not, you will have to push from the other side, which makes your choice quite limited and predictable.

(V) Volgar The Seer (7/7/2/1, resilience to hermeticist’s attack)

Volgar The Seer is really a problem as arachnids, since we have lots of important hermeticist units. However, it shouldn’t be a huge issue to this deck, due to the fact that we have plenty of high damage melee units at our disposal.

(3) Tagari

Tagari has high mobility, decent attack state yet fragile defense. Trading should be really frequent when you contest against Tagari, yet you have to make sure that you don’t sacrifice your units too fast that you now have to suffer from lack of units.

We would like to note that Tagari’s guardian is also pretty weak compared to other races. This makes sniping down the guardian a realizable strategy. Push from one side and get their guardian with your Lisana happened quite often when I played against this race.

It’s crucial to pay attention on each of Tagari’s units. They have overwhelming 3M units that will make your life genuinely uncomfortable. Same as contesting against Alnarasz Eph deck, you should never leave your situation to the end game. It’s possibly harder to fight than the former, since Tagari has significantly more 3M units. I might have to just admit that this Lisana’s deck really suffer when you play against Tagari. Even an excellent execution all over the game might not be able to give you a win.

There are several units that are worthful to keep in mind :

(I) Nuka (10/9/3/1)

Nuka is as annoying as Alnarasz Eph that could snipe down your hero far away. With his ability, he could gain more attack when the moral becomes lower, yet this doesn’t really matter since none of our units have over 10 defense. In itself, he is less threatening than Alnarasz Eph, yet his states that could take down any units in the end game still put our deck into a disadvantageous position.

(II) Kele (8/3/3/2, full damage even when it’s melee attack)

Like the night prince from Nordur, she is usually a guarantee for at least one master. She is also problematic for the security of Lisana if there are other 3M units around.

(III) Mojug (6/3/3/1)

See Viktor Traudor from Nordur section above.

(IV) Viho (3/1/3/1)

We have to point out that Viho, when fully stacked, has enough to take down most units of this deck himself, except the guardian. Even with 6 attack is a threat to most of our high-value cards such as Xico, Thera, etc.

(4) Arachnids

Arachnids’ opponent is a little bit like Tagari when you play with this deck. They are normally fragile, thus easy to create the numerical gap of units. It’s quite common that both sides have identical 3M and 3R units, since our choices are limited. You should be much more comfortable to expect opponent’s composition.

End Game Strategy

This is one of my games against KS, one of the best Naphus players right now. I do not have the image before I placed it, this is the position when it came to his turn.

As you can see, I did a heavy push from the left side, while paralyzing his hero. This is a decision that I had to make, since when both players had only around 10 morals, Alnarasz Eph is extremely powerful if he just snipes down my hero and win the game. In this case, I was fortunate enough to find a chance that I can push my hero forward to menace his hero on the next turn. Lasthos is also important here to block his marksmen. This game was a classic example of how to use your Thera and your hero to break trench fight.

Possible Variation of this deck:

You could bring (more) Lanchur Necorzaq (1/5/1/1) to enhance your defensive ability.

Or Paros (5/4/2/1 : gain time when he slays a unit) if you need more time to calculate properly.

Zheka (5/5/2/2) is also not a bad choice which can provide both range and melee attack. She is a little bit bland in my opinion, but her state is at least decent enough to add into the consideration.

Conclusion :

This deck represents the spirt of arachnids : mobility and willingness. We want to avoid heavy fortified push and enjoy some decent ambush and frequent combat without too much calculation. Like blitz games in chess, most of the time you can relax and enjoy your game, yet it’s still a high-risk high reward deck that you might screw up the whole game only by a minor mistake.

Finally, this is the end of this guide. I hope this article could encourage or inspire other players to try arachnids. This is not the most difficult race to play at all, but it nevertheless requires some experience that might be counterintuitive for the beginner. Please feel free to leave a comment or recommendation down below or in the Discord. I would be more than happy to reply to any of your possible question relating to this deck, arachnids or this game in general. I’ll keep testing this deck in the foreseeable future. Some update or modification of this deck is thus possible.

I hope you enjoy this guide. See you on the battlefield!