Welcome to the exciting world of Flesh and Blood, where heroes battle it out 1v1, and at times, even a full on Brawl! Today, our topic will be the Brute class, showcasing them in a general discussion; first and foremost, let’s get introduced to the lineup to choose from.
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Although now Living Legend in Blitz format, Rhinar is still available to play in Classic Constructed, Clash, Commoner, etc formats. One of the “OG” heroes, he is both wreckless, as well as explosive in his attacks. Boasting the standard 20 life points, 4 Intellect as most heroes, he can hang with the strongest of heroes.
Levia
She is a woman, Brute, Demon, you name it…. Depending on the variant, Levia is able to be built and played into multiple versions.
Breaking out during the release of Monarch, she utilizes the power and explosiveness of the Brute class cards. Borrowing from the very same sets as Rhinar (6 attack level cards primarily) she wants to banish 1 per turn to absolve her of the “Blood Debt” incurred while utilizing the dark/shadow rituals for increased power.
Kayo
Kayo, is a bit of an odd fish, in the fact he comes in 2 flavors; 1 arm or 2.
“Old” Kayo (aka) 2 arm Kayo, was originally introduced in Crucible Of War (Fairly early in the world of Rathe) and utilized a now semi-antiquated way of figuring damage. Using a D6 die, you would roll; 1-3 you halved the damage dealt, and 4-6 doubled it. Talk about a mild to wild turn.
“New” Kayo, aka 1 arm Kayo was released in Heavy Hitters early 2024 and exploded onto the Classic Constructed scene with his own “CC” Deck featuring the “Savage Sash” chest piece utilized by lots of players in different Brute decks. While lacking an arm; “New” Kayo foregoes the “Roll and hope” gameplay for a fresh take; allowing cards to gain a +1 attack level in any zone EXCEPT the combat chain. This effectively doubled his card pool, being able to use the “Blue’s” previously begrudgingly used by Rhinar (Most are a 5 or lower attack level and therefore a “Miss” for Rhinar’s specialization.) as they can be discarded (Agile Windup, Mighty Windup, etc) for action triggers, etc.
With the fresh look, came a redesign on the specialization, coming in 2 parts:
- Part 1: Anytime a card is in any zone EXCEPT the Combat Chain, it gains +1 attack level (Cards that are a 5 will act as if it were a 6, etc)
- Part 2: The first time a “6 or more” attack level card is discarded each turn, create a Might token.
Brute Class Strategies: Power and Chaos in Combat
In general, the Brute class showcases raw power and a seeming disregard for personal safety in the melee; as they predominantly do not block/use equipment in a defensive manner.
Overall, each Brute has their own strengths/weaknesses, and even more/less favorable mashups.
Ninja’s and Mechanologists give Brutes the biggest run, given how wide they can go per turn. This in turn forces the player to either defend using a whole hand, or take a lot of damage/ on hit effects.
A tactic for Brutes, if they have the misfortune of “Going 2nd”, is to block completely with their hand, as they will be allowed the free “draw up” to their intellect for their turn (This only happens once, in a specific scenario in the grand scheme of the game). Unless there is a specific card the player wants to hold on to, this is a tactic that allows them to preserve their life total 1 more round.
Depending on how aggressively the deck is built, and the luck of the draw, etc a Brute can fairly easily kill even the strongest heroes in a fury of blows, under 5 hands; given they have the tempo of the game. Once that switches, it is VERY hard to re-attain.Another tactic, on the offensive side, is to do a “Buff”, utilizing an action card prior to the actual attack to hopefully push through as much damage as possible. Cards such as Pulping REALLY showcase this, if the player discards a 6 attack level card, the Pulping gets both Dominate and Go Again.
(Dominate forces the opponent to only use 1 card from hand, as well as any armor they are wearing.) which in turn, allows the player to push even more damage through.
Go Again, simply given the player 1 Action Point (AP) back, to unleash another barrage of attacks, given they still have enough cards/resources to expend.
This is a point in which Kayo excels; as he can use “Blue Cards” with 3 resources each, that can be pitched and not to mention the free “Buff” with the possibility of a Might Token.
Rhinar however, requires the discarding of a 6 attack level card, or the card to state that it is Intimidating the opponent. (This is simply taking a card out of the opponents hand temporarily, placing each Intimidated card into the Banish zone until end of the Players’ turn.) While this is extremely powerful on HIS turn; it can be only marginally useful was the cards are generally placed back into the opponents hand at the beginning of their turn.
Intimidation generally works best if you’re threatening 10+ damage on turn, and you can Intimidate 2-3 cards. As usual, a buff, etc that gains the player Dominate will hasten things up and not fatigue your deck.
Due to the nature of Rhinars’ specialization, discarding a card per turn (And sometimes more) can QUICKLY burn through your deck.
During all this, Rhinar is probably one of the most interactive heroes, as there is a flair of mystery of discarding “Random” cards (This becomes a specific thing in the case of Beaten Trackers, the Brute Foot equipment that states to turn on their ability to grant 1 AP, a 6 attack level card had to be discarded at RANDOM; whereas the buff card Bonebreaker Bellow allows the player to simply pick at their own discretion a 6 attack level card to discard).
While using these buffs, they do stack with Might tokens created the previous turn for an even more devastating blow to the opponent, often presenting more damage than even a full hand of cards can defend.
As a personal choice, the Ravenous Meataxe is a favorite for Rhinar to use as it gets a +2 attack level for discarding a “Random” 6 attack card, and if you get the buff, you’ll ALSO get a free Intimidate. (This card be extremely brutal on heroes such as Ninjas, etc that typically are poor blockers.)(A downside to using this weapon, is that Pummels (Attack Reactions) will not work with them; whereas using the Rhinar specialization weapon Romping Club WOULD be able to use it and push even more damage.)
This bodes badly on the opposite side of the token, given that a Ninja typically goes wide (3-5 attacks per turn) and to defend against that, usually meaning the player has to pass his turn, or commit to weaker retaliatory attack.
If you enjoyed this article from one of our founding community members (Wesley Cole) of AppalachiaTCG, you should consider joining our Discord server and discussing Brutes and other classes/heroes live in the Flesh and Blood channel!