Weekly Path Adventure: Flames, Citybreakers and Recalls
Path Database writer Conansson walks you through this week's Path adventure.
Hello, my name is Conansson, you might know me from the Path Database, the Path Ratings or the unofficial Legends of Runeterra Rulebook. I’m going to walk you through this week’s Path adventure featuring Fiora, Gangplank and Zed.
Note that the fights between each boss are randomized for each player. You can find the decklists of each fight in the Path Database, which has been updated a lot visually since the last article.
Starlight Portal: 1,5 Star Fiora
This week’s special rules is from Annie’s 0,5 Star adventure’s boss fight Tibbers and increases ALL spells and skills damage by 1. Note that it only buffs up effects that use the stack, so for example Yasuo doesn’t gain any benefit.
The obvious picks here are Annie and Jhin, however, they are both at 3 Stars already and I like for these Challenges to actually be challenging. However, I recently unlocked Veigar, who is still a 0 Star Level 1. Can we beat the adventure with him?
The map is the Vi 2 Star Noxus map. You get a triple choice after your support champion pick as well as a guaranteed shop before the miniboss. Afterwards, we see a Vicious Enemy, then normal paths leading to the final Boss Fiora.
I started the run with Wild Inspiration, making my Darkness more affordable. Reckless Trifarian was my first enemy, which is my favorite decklist in all of Path. They rushed me down early on and Culling Strike killed Veigar. 2 damage Death Lotus and random big units made it really close, luckily Tarkasz suicided himself. Chempunk Shredder wiped my board. In the end, I managed to win the fight with 0 cards in deck and exactly 9 damage vs the opponent’s two can’t block units. Probably the closest fight I’ve had so far in all of Path.
I got rewarded with Kindly Tavernkeeper for some extra healing.
The support champion was close between Elise and Aurelion Sol, but I decided that earlygame is more important and that Vile Feast draining 2 is quite good.
I decided to take on the slow Legion Marauder over the burn - heavy Manasoul Student. 2 damage Blood for Blood on their own Marauder made my Vile Feast fizzle, which was really funny. Not feeling confident to stall out the fight, it ended with me at 11 life. However, the Gods of Path wanted me to win and offered Withering Mist, another card that’s boosted by the map’s special power.
Crimson Aristocrat’s power is quite annoying, so I opted for Lord Broadmane instead. Chempunk Shredder avalanching my board was annoying, but the rest of the fight was smooth and we ended at full 20 life. Brood Awakening with Health Potion meant that half my deck are heals at this point.
Miniboss: Gangplank
This week’s Gangplank is the weak version from GP’s 1,5 Star adventure, which doesn’t have a Dreadway in it’s deck and the power only gives it to his hand instead of summoning one. Still, only 20 life vs Gangplank is a bit scary.
I had a really slow start and Warning Shot hit me for 7 damage, however my Spiderlings allowed me to carry on. Withering Mist allowed me to heal up again and from that point, it was a controlled fight. The best strategy is to clear Powder Kegs each round (save a spell for countering them, e.g. a Vile Feast), then build up a big board (or in my case a 11 damage darkness, and OTK them.
My Vicious Enemy was Minotaur Reckoner and I decided to greed a bit and try him out over the Dauntless Vanguard. Turns out the enemy starts with Three Mana!! Last week, the 2 Star adventure final boss only had one mana, this time, even the normal fights in a 1,5 star adventure have two. Being two mana behind was brutal, but heals and chump - blockers from Brood Awakening and Veigar value pulled through in the end.
In the shop, I picked up some Falling Comets for Fiora. Both Grumpy Rockbear and Trifarian Gloryseeker were confronting me with random big guys, so I went for the Rockbears. Twisted Catalyzer with Mechapulverizer from Overprepared power finished the fight quickly. They do come with quite a bit of card advantage though.
In the next shop, I made a mistake buying Lil’ Buddies. Free food for Fiora, hard mode enabled!
Miniboss: Fiora
Fiora got a small upgrade to her power and some items, but the actual decklist remained unchanged.
We were lucky to be able to take down Fiora very early on with boosted Pokey Stick. Afterwards, the opponent never got the chance to come back on the board and our Elise won without any problems.
A really fun adventure, I like the challenge and how certain effects you know such as Pokey Stick work completely different than normal.
Shadow Portal: 1,5 Star Gangplank
The special rules feature two uncommon powers: Duplication Glitch comes from Jinx 0,5 Star, whereas the Siege and Conquer is from Lee Sin 0,5 Star. The best synergy I could come up with was Powder Monkeys, but my Miss Fortune was 3 Stars already.
I decided to just run a cheap unit with Challenger that could deal with the Citybreakers, and ended up with Ashe at 2 Stars Level 12.
The map is from Lee Sin 2 Star (I think, could also just be GP 1,5 Star), but doesn’t have any special things to it. There is a Karma in the middle though, which means we’ll have to get some more lategame/removal.
My starting power was Domination, which is always nice with champions aiming to attack a lot.
Jagged Taskmaster started with a measily 10 life, however, the Citybreaker enabled Plunder for the Jagged Butcher. Some nice synergies here! For my reward, the Crystal Arrow showed up, but got outclassed by the Kindly Tavernkeeper next to it.
For the support champion, I got a Fizz with Reckoner Mark.
Between Chempunk Pickpocket and Jagged Butcher, I went with the one without any Plunder effects. Fizz hit the Citybreaker for four damage on round 1, meaning it went down rather easily. He got hit by a Timewinder afterwards, but Lvl. 2 Ashe ended the fight quickly.
Going top for Smooth Soloist, I was locked into fighting Astute Academic, which I prefered anywas over the Monkey Idol. 40 gold short for Nature’s Revenge, I settled with Quick Draw. The Academic was powering out units fast and blasted me with Gotcha!, but ran out of cards fast, which gave me an easy victory.
The next shop surprised me with Shadow Totem Miss Fortune, a close call vs buying the power Bouncing Blades. MF is one of my favorite champions though, so I got the two copies. Deciding what to cut was actually hard, since Karma wants lategame, but you need earlygame vs Gangplank. Double Trouble was my choice in the end.
Miniboss: Karma
The hardest part when facing Karma is to remember it during the Mulligan. You need to actively look for ways to take her down because the rest of her deck is an absolute joke, having only units and no spells outside of Deny.
For me, that was Rimefang Wolf and double Miss Fortune trigger, but Karma still got value with Karma’s Insight of Ages. I actually ran out of value super hard here, but my Elusives and MF where enough to close out the fight.
Fizz picked up the Dragon’s Tooth and was now able to one - shot Citybreakers.
For the next fight, I chose Petty Officer over Unscarred Reaver because it had a champion node behind. Again, the fights only have one mana, unlike the other 1,5 star adventure, which is very confusing. a 6/4 Fizz turn one meant that the fight didn’t last more than five rounds and we didn’t have to do the Powder Keg - minigame.
The next shop gave me Stabilize and I went for Riptide Rex over Twisted Catalyzer, because who wants to voluntarily play vs Darkness? Citybreaker got shot by the Round Start - ability and Super - Fizz took over without being impressed by the swarm strategy.
Final Boss: Gangplank
For the Final boss, we got the weak version of Gangplank again. I would have at least expected the version that directly summons the Dreadway, but this one at one mana gem was sadly just a push over.
The synergy is there with the Citybreaker leveling up Gangplank, however the AI is really bad at keeping that unit alive. With the mana advantage and the overpowered Fizz, GP just got killed from thirty live on round four though. If you’re struggling here, read the tips above on the same GP fight.
This adventure was honestly a bit disappointing and random, having to fight the same boss twice feels bad and the mana disadvantage made this one way easier than the other 1,5 star - portal.
Dark Star Portal: 4 Star Zed
This week’s mutators got me really excited, because the feel quite hard. Flash of Steel is Yasuo’s 3 Star power, while Remove the Imperfection is from The Maker in Vi’s 2 Star adventure.
It really encorporates what people hate on Ionia, all their units being stunned and recalled with way too little cost.
I decided to run Jhin at 3 Stars Level 19, because the 0 cost Captive Audience helps tremendously in catching up on Tempo and because the opponent recalling my Cannon Barrage sounds like fun. Other good options are Gwen and Miss Fortune, since the tokens they generate will soak a lot of the powers. Jinx is of course always an option, but she’s too overpowered for my liking.
For the map, we are on Viktor 2,5 Star, a pretty well-known map that features the wide 4 node - choice after the first fight, then a Vicious Enemy and the shortcut in the end.
As a power, I went with Quick Draw, since any form of mana acceleration seems very strong on this map.
Plaza Guardian was my first fight and rushed me down with Zaunite Urchins. I managed to gun them all down and my 2 star passive grew my units out of range from the recall. Even if they got hit, cards like Avarosan Marksman have powerful Play: - effects and can be used again. The fight ended with me at 32 life.
My support champion gave me the choice between Double Time Watch Heimerdinger and Shadow Totem Kai’Sa. Although Heimer might have been stronger, I’m a big Kai’Sa fan and she does generate a skill and a slow spell after all, right? (Probably should have just rerolled…)
Golden Crushbot seemed like an easier fight than Legion Marauders, who will eventually outgrow you and recall all your units. It also works well with Jhin’s 2 star power buffing allies with Skills. It turns out that the Recall activates before Factory Settings changes a unit into a 2/5, making this fight a lot tougher than at first imagined. Also, Factory Settings robbed me of the stats I got through Play: - abilites from the 2 star power. Lots of interesting interactions here. Luckily, the Crushbot deck is quite bad, allowing me to eventually outgrind it after 11 rounds.
Patched Porobot is one of the scariest non - boss fights in Path of Champions, featuring two mana 4/5s and triple - summons. I avoided that fight and took on Sai Scout, who just has a Round Start: +1/+0 ability. The enemy ability was useful to retrigger my Voidling and progress Evolve. Jhin’s Cannon Barrage whiped the board and then Captive Audience shut down the opponent’s Rockbears. Kai’Sa came in for a Fireworks finish and we left the fight at 24 life.
Miniboss: Fizz
This version of Fizz is actually the final boss from the Lee Sin 2 Star adventure and an expert in spamming cheap spells while hitting you with elusives. Keeping up with both mana and card advantage is no easy task.
Luckily for me, the AI ran their first Fizz right into the Roiling Sands from my Rock Hopper, the second died to Avarosan Marksman (make sure to check if they have a burst spell before attempting such a play). The game stalled out quite a bit and they built up a big Tidal Wave. The Disarmed Power I picked up in the last shop helped quite a bit at keeping the swarm at bay until I eventually drew Jhin to close out the match.
The legendary Power Level Up showed up as an option in the next pick, alongside the tempting option Evolution. I decided to have a bit of fun and went with Level Up, although keyword buff with Kai’Sa might have been stronger.
For the Vicious Enemy, I faced Hexcore Foundry over the also scary Scales of the Dragon. Usually, Foundry runs out of cards very fast and I was hoping to catch up soon afterwards. The 10 extra champions also counteract their Puffcap strategy. I soon found the opponent to be at 55 life. This will be a long one. An armada of Captive Audiences later and with the help of a generated Miss Fortune Level 2, we managed to win in the end with full life thanks to Lifesteal Voidling. Who calls Level Up a bad power again?
I decided to not take the shortcut and go right to see the other fights after picking up Nature’s Revenge. Crescent Strikes were picked up in the shop because Stuns are very good vs Zed. To avoid the scary T - Hex fight, I took on Tianna Crownguard. Turns out the Sapling from Nature’s Revenge just eats a Stun at Round Start. With Tianna just spamming Vanilla demacia units, the fight was easier than Galio version by far.
A full heal later, I was ready to take on Zed.
Final Boss: Zed
I miss the good old days where Zed still had Radiant Plate Armor. This one just runs Studded Leather, making the whole fight rather simple. Don’t let Zed level for free, keep an eye out for Dawn and Dusk and fend of the elusives. I stunned the Zed turn one with Crescent Strike and then our champions took over.
I finished the fight in style, activating Evolve with Lulu’s Help Pix!, then triggered Jhin with Ebb, before realizing I misscounted my Mana. The attack soon after was still enough, ending another four - star adventure on the first try.
Overall, I really liked the first and third special portal this week, while the second was a bit disappointing. This four - star adventure is more interesting than just hitting you for tons of damage and can actually be manipulated to your advantage with clever gameplay. I’ll replay the Zed stage a few more times for sure since it gives 3200 XP and is quite enjoyable.
I wish you look on your own weekly adventures and am looking forward to seeing you next week again!
Excellent guide. I appreciate you skip easy mode Jinx since that needs no further explanation.