Overview
Hello all! I have finally decided to sit down and write an overview of everyone’s favorite ice queen, Morrigan. My motivation was kickstarted, in part, by the brilliant Banner Bearer’s Masterclass on Morrigan. Thanks Elliot! Check it out here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1905180/15072349-episode-023-morrigan-masterclass.
My leftover motivation comes from the fact that I told Grumpy that I’d write this article 2ish years ago…I apologize for my ridiculous delay (May of 2022…yikes. Sam has been very patient).
I am going to start with this: Morrigan is a Shaper that was accidentally printed Red so SFG just rolled with it. Morrigan’s can dish out ALL 5 blight tokens throughout the course of a game. She thrives when she is focusing on her own movement and impairing her enemies ability to plant safe banners. Once you are able to overcome the mindset of Morrigan as a “Slayer” she becomes a slightly more approachable champion.
Focus Points for Morrigan (in the order of importance):
1. Banner Game
2. Blights
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3. Slaying Champs
Let’s continue to be honest with one another…Morrigan takes a lot of work to pilot proficiently. Her power curve is reliant on other champions. She needs her team to provide the important boons she can’t give herself (protection and damage) but also to help trigger the auto-wound on her clash skill “Iceblade”. The team you construct around Morrigan should be focus point #1 above…but we’ll keep it separate for now.
In my opinion she does 2 things exceedingly well: 1. Crush Banners, 2. Counters High Dodge/Low Armor Champions. If you are able to effectively get combat boons onto Morrigan in the plot phase, or prior to her activation in the clash, she is a menace. She has a VERY strong Ultimate and her blight game is sneaky strong. Utilize “So Cool Mistress” every plot so Morrigan always has 4 speed when needed.
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Pro Tip #1: Pair Morrigan with Jeen to always have 4 speed. She’ll become a roaring avalanche instead of an immobile glacier.
Followers: The cold bones (or boner boys, cold boners, or simply…boners) are bad. They are, arguably, the worst followers in the game. Their speed is putrid and their attack in the clash is dog water (needing 4 cold bones adjacent to the target to be effective). Have I mentioned their speed? WOOF! Oftentimes, Morrigan has to sacrifice her actions, which she needs, to move them into workable positions on the battle map. As followers, they suck. They exert no pressure, and they eat Morrigan’s plot actions…gross.
They do have 2 upsides:
1. They relish Morrigan’s icy glory and give her a choice between an accuracy boon or SPEED boon in the Plot Phase (my rule of thumb is always choose SPEED).
2. Brain Freeze, their passive, is an oft forgotten ability but can be of crucial importance. With Morrigan’s high accuracy and a Dodge Blight on her target Morrigan doesn’t miss attacks.
STATS
Her stats don’t differ between the Plot and Clash Phase so I’ll speak to them together:
· Speed 2 (4): 2/2 movement is milquetoast. Nothing special. But 4 movement (booned up) is HOT (or cold?). This is where Morrigan shines and what makes her a fantastic crusher.
o Pro Tip #2: Do not outpace the Cold Boners. They are your most reliable speed boon generators (They are good some something!). Stay within 4 spaces of them at all times.
· Dodge 2 (4): Meh. I wouldn’t waste your action economy to get Morrigan a Dodge Boon.
· Protection 3 (5): This I like! Champions with high protection have historically been undervalued because high protection is normally paired with low movement speeds. Not our ice queen! Morrigan can easily become a 4 movement 5 armor tank. It’s important that Morrigan can survive a few hits as she runs into the back lines. Throw an armor boon onto her as often as you can. There are some great warbands to play alongside her that accomplish that too (more on this later)
· Health 6: It’s fine. She can withstand more damage than most other slayers over multiple hits.
SKILLS
Ultimate: Flash Freeze Rating: A
Flash Freeze is a fantastic Ultimate. Dodge and Movement blights on all enemies within 3 can easily win you a turn when used strategically. It can help guarantee a knockout or protect your banners from being crushed. This Ult is best utilized as a defensive tool but will also pair nicely with Ice Blade to ensure a hit and auto-wound.
Passive: Frost Forged Rating: C+
Morrigan’s passive is both a blessing and a curse. Fully juiced Morrigan can be a menace and is statistically an above average slayer. Unfortunately, boons are fickle. They can be stripped easily and are only 1-time use. This puts Morrigan’s power level on a wave. She is either at the apex ready to lay down the hammer…or a dud. In a lot of cases the action economy used to get Morrigan a certain boon largely out-scales the boons usefulness.
· Pro Tip #3: If you have to use more than 1 action to get Morrigan a boon it is not worth the cost (this does not include passives or bonus actions)
Do not lose sight of the forest for the trees. I’ve seen players hyper focus on getting Morrigan a boon which loses them positioning on the board. Hell, this could lose you a turn. Give Morrigan boons as often as possible but DO NOT fixate on it.
This is the reason that most people want to play Morrigan…let’s be real. Boons can be super fun and Morrigan really shines when fully loaded.
PLOT PHASE SKILLS
· Plot Skill: Forward Minions! Rating: D+
Forward Minions! Is a necessary but poorly implemented skill. It is useful in moving the Boners up the battle map because of their atrocious 1/1 speed. The biggest downside to this skill is that it eats one of Morrigan’s actions in the plot. In Godtear you want to plant your banner as much as possible. Morrigan’s #1 focus is the banner game (remember). If you use “Forward Minions!” you are left with only 1 more action in the plot phase. Ask yourself: Do you want to move the boners 2 hexes or move Morrigan 2 (4) hexes? In most cases moving Morrigan will be more beneficial. Taken in the context of her entire kit I think that this skill makes Morrigan weaker as a whole.
I use Forward Minions! On turn 1 and generally do not utilize it again. It ideally would be used to surround your foes to prevent them from planting or crushing a banner.
· Plot Skill: Frosty Glance Rating: B-
Frosty Glance is a great skill for a slayer. It has built in movement and gives a rare armor blight (Slayers LOVE protection blights). It also has the secondary effect of moving Morrigan without using her movement boon, which is nice. Ideally, you would use this to put a high dodge/low armor target at 0 armor so you can blast them with an attack the next turn. Even 3 damage dice can hurt a champion with no armor (Fenra, Peet and Skully…)
“Frosty Glance’s” downsides are similar to “Forward Minions!.” Morrigan’s plot phase normally consists of an Advance and Plant (in either order) since she will be one of your team’s primary banner crushers. This doesn’t leave actions for her other skills.
Author’s note: I wish this skill moved Morrigan 2 hexes instead of 1 so it could get her into melee with an enemy from maximum range.
CLASH PHASE SKILLS
· Clash Skill: Snowball’s Chance Rating: F-
Don’t use this skill. Morrigan lost a lot of power in her kit because of her “instant knockout”. It is HORRENDOUSLY unreliable and will eat your boons. There are NICHE cases in which this skill could be used but I generally play without considering this into my strategy. Use it for the LOLS (but like don’t actually…) Don’t use this skill.
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Clash Skill: Iceblade Rating: B+
This is Morrigan’s best skill outside of her ultimate. 1/5/5 is on par with Sneaky Peet’s attack and without much effort this attack can become a 1/7/5. Boons can turn this into a 1/7/7 with an auto-wound which has:
· ~50% of instantly killing Shayle, Lorsann, Sneaky Peet, Mourneblade and Fenra
· >30% chance to instantly kill Titus, Nia, Finvarr, Keera, Jeen, Helena, Styx and Lily
(those odds are better than Snowball’s Chance…just saying). An important part of her kit is that the auto-wound is also variable. It can be used on followers and champions (unlike Peet or Keera). Oftentimes, my plan going into any match is for Morrigan’s Clash actions to be move 4 hexes (hopefully crushing a banner in the process) and lay down an Iceblade onto someone. Great Skill!
· Clash Skill: Icebolt Rating: C
Icebolt is a weird skill. It’s a 3-damage attack on a slayer, not good. With a reliable way for Morrigan to get a damage boon this ability would be in a perfect spot (I’d give it a B+ alongside Iceblade). Since Morrigan’s options for a damage boon are minimal…it gets a C. Also, prioritization of damage boons will normally go to Iceblade. There are situations in which this can be useful, like if you had to use your 4 movement to crush a banner in a separate lane and still want to throw out an attack. Fringe cases
The accuracy blight is a nice bonus. If you are not needing other Clash actions Morrigan can simply use this ability to reliably hand out a blight (and damage can be a bonus).
PAIRINGS
· Jaak: Fairly straightforward. Tortoise shavings really benefits Morrigan as she will be one of your primary banner crushers. Jaak doesn’t need to use his own actions to plant so this is a good time to get a protection boon onto our Ice Queen. Also, Jaak’s poor accuracy on Spider Staff benefits from the Boner’s ability to give dodge blight. Give and Take!
· Lorsann: She can give Morrigan a damage boon right away in Plot 1. WOO! While that is great at the beginning of the game it is not useful long term. The reason that Lorsann really shines with Morrigan is Faerie Fire. Both Lorsann and the Rangers can decrease armor and since Morrigan has below average damage dice that is really beneficial. Lorsann and Morrigan can both benefit. WOO!
· Finvarr: It’s simple: Finvarr’s followers are AMAZING for Morrigan. They are the true Boners…but like in the good way. First, the Shadow Boners can give Morrigan an armor in the plot. 5 armor, nice! Second, they can “Shadow Snare” enemies in the plot which triggers “Iceblade’s” auto-wound. NICE! All of this work is done in the plot too…which means they can act effectively in the clash as well. Bottom line, Shadow Boners make me ice hard.
· Shayle: Runeweave your enemy’s buffs onto Morrigan. Every plot. It’s essentially a 3 dice swing. Second, Stone Spikes triggers Morrigan’s Auto-wound. Glorious! Then with Landslide you can crush the armor of baddies all around him. Again, with Morrigan’s low damage, armor blights are super helpful. Finally, Landslide also exerts a lot of board pressure alongside Morrigan which she needs.
· Nia: I SAVED THE BEST FOR LAST! My one gripe with the Banner Bearer’s podcast was Elliot’s comment about Nia/Morrigan pairing…umm excuse me sir…she easily creates the best wombo-combo with Morrigan. Why? Action economy. Also Why? Auto-wound triggers. It is very easy for Nia to gain a bonus action every activation thanks to her passive. This free action can then be used to PUMP MORRIGAN UP
o Pro tip #4: keep a cold boner behind Nia at all times so you can copy their Damage Boon to Morrigan every plot phase. EZPZ.
Nia has “Erosion” which lowers protection and helps to overcome Morrigan’s low damage. Also, “Blinding Light” trigger’s Morrigan’s auto wound. Then there’s the Quartzling’s whose Shimmer skill triggers Morrigan’s auto wound. There is so much play with Nia. She can copy any boon to Morrigan to give her what she needs. The biggest issue with this pairing is that Morrigan can quickly out pace Nia and separate too far to make use of plot phase crystal mirrors. Always try to keep them within 2 spaces.
· Pro Tip #5: This champion combo is called STONES and BONES. Epic.
Traps:
· Lily: She is going to look soooooo enticing…like a cold popsicle in the summer. DON’T DO IT. Yes, she will be able to turn Morrigan into a cannon for 1 attack in turn 1 Plot Phase. After turn 1 it is incredibly hard to keep Morrigan and Lily together. Both Morrigan and Lily’s strength is their mobility. They are great crushers and can cover a lot of the battle map. Lily’s buffs, while potent, are limited in their placement. Since they go onto a hex instead of a champion you have to keep her allies close. Do you want the two best banner crushers on your team to stay in the same lane…let alone stay in adjacent hexe? No! Don’t trap yourself into playing around Morrigan’s passive by trying to pair her with Lily. IT’s A TRAP!
· Rattlebone: Action economy is the name of the game. Morrigan is bad with it. Rattlebone is bad with it. 2 wrongs DO NOT make a right. Theoretically, Rattlebone should be able to provide Morrigan with the boons that she needs but again…anytime it takes more than 1 action to get Morrigan a boon…NOT WORTH IT! If Rattlebone’s passive was reliable it would be a different story but unfortunately, with rules as written, it’s bad. Always remember, action economy.
Closing Thoughts
Morrigan is a fun champion. I love her boon/blight mini game. She is neither the strongest slayer nor a strong overall champion. I think her failings came in two forms: 1. SFG was placing too much strength into boons/blights with the first wave of champion releases. 2. Snowballs Chance diverted a fair amount of power from her other abilities. With some minor changes she could become strong and really help to shake up the top tier slayers.
Also, this is how Morrigan works best with my playstyle. The great thing about Godtear is that it caters to an individual’s play style. Morrigan, can work…it just takes practice. Play some games with her to see if this helps…especially when you’re playing against me.
Happy Gaming! Love you all
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