Meet Underlord Shale – Chaos Incarnate!

Darkest greetings Underlord,

Today we’re delving into the chaotic mind of  Shale and her devious arsenal of deadly Aspects. As one of the playable Underlords in The Under Games, we thought it’d be best if she introduced herself. We asked for a comment, and here’s what she had to say:

Underlord Shale – Chaos Incarnate

Shale has ventured to the four corners of the cosmos like the debris from a supernova. She is perpetually confused, and doesn’t really know who she is or where she’s going. She’s had many mishaps, like when she accidentally blew up her understudy, the mortal Lamash. But somehow along the way she’s acquired an element of wisdom, gaining insight into the explosive foundations of the universe. She believes she has the key to victory in The Under Games, because how can her opponents defeat what they cannot predict?

Master of Beasts and Alchemy

As you might have surmised, Shale does not care much for the structured approach to dungeon life; she’s much too chaotic and carefree for that, and as such Beasts are a natural fit for her. Through her trait The Swarm she’ll be ready to overwhelm her foes in the blink of an eye.

The Swarm is a serious game changer that plays well into Shale’s aggressive, Wrath-focussed Veins of Evil. With it she will quickly amass a game-ending force of Beasts, including powerful mutations of the Shadow, Bafu and Skarg, which can steamroll her adversaries.

 

The Screecher, Terror and Molten Skarg are prepared for battle

 

Worse still, these Beasts can be supplemented by the powerful effects of potions, many of which now affect enemies caught in the area, as well as allies. More dangerous even is the mighty Thunderling, literal lightning trapped in a bottle, which once dropped releases a powerful elemental capable of decimating ranks of enemies – albeit for a hefty gold and mana cost:

 

Thunderlings are deadly,  nigh unstoppable forces of nature.

 

Sowing Chaos

As if her Beasts weren’t dangerous enough, Shale is blessed with a veritable array of maddening spells, constructs and abilities to wreak havoc upon her adversaries and remain unpredictable.

Through her use of Aspects such as the new Shackle spell, which temporarily disables enemy defences, and of course the well-known Ember Rift, she is able to quickly overwhelm even the most entrenched Underlord.

Shackle disables defences, ready for your minions to tear them to pieces

Few can anticipate the pandemonious nature of Shale, with her forces seeming to pop from one place to the next. This is in fact achieved by one of her new constructs: the Moongate. The Moongate acts as a teleportation point connected to all other Moongates that belong to her, including the new Moongate Shrines if she can claim them. This makes her forces hard to pin down, as they zip across the map in a flash of lunar energy.

 

Moongates allow your forces to instantly travel across the map, ready for a surprise attack

 

Ultimately all this chaos comes at a price, coalescing in Shale’s negative trait Reckless. Not only does this prevent her from placing all but the most basic of defences ( Bombard, Blade Lotus, and Wooden Door), but it also means that any defences she does place are more gold and mana hungry. The rate at which Defence Parts are produced is also significantly reduced.

 

All in all you won’t be fortifying many choke points as Shale; but when your minions are moonbeaming around the map, Thunderlings are crashing down like bolts of lightning, and Beast stampedes are running down your opponents – who needs a fortress?

The Veins of Evil

Beyond their core functionality and design, each of the playable Underlords in The Under Games has had their Veins of Evil tweaked. This will guide them along a certain critical path, which is conducive to their playstyle while still providing options.

 

As you might imagine, Shale’s is focussed heavily around her Beasts, and precludes access to a great deal of the Sloth tree. Here’s what that looks like in game:

 

 

As with Skirmish matches, the way you receive mana in The Under Games is to research Sins and unlock new Aspects; but with such a wide swathe of the Veins being locked out, as well as the mana cap being raised to 2000, you many wonder how you will generate enough mana.

Fortunately all Underlords now have access to a new construct: the Mana Vault. Each one increases the owner’s total available mana; but be sure they are protected, otherwise you might suddenly lose access to the mana you’ve come to rely on.

 

Why wait for Sins when you can expand your mana pool with the Mana Vault?

 

Other sources of mana can be claimed within a level, such as the new Mana Shrine, which provides an even larger increase to your mana pool. Fear not though, as the functionality of the old Mana Shrine (to reduce the mana cost of spells) still exists, albeit in the more aptly named Incantation Shrine.

 

Spellcasting has never been so efficient with the Incantation Shrine.

 

That about wraps up our dive into Underlord Shale’s strategy for The Under Games. But there are still two more Underlords left to go: Volta and Lamash. Join us on Tuesday for our next reveal!

Until next time – or as Shale might say, “Good riddance, and stay out of my way!”

 

Cheers,

– Brightrock Games Team

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