Confused Breach Mage
“Playing as the attacker, I get indecisive a lot. Should I open a breach? Should I charge? Or should I buy a card?”
Veteran Breach Mage
“I hear you. It’s tough to know when to do what.”
In my previous post, I covered the go-to actions for the healer/defender role:
👉 [Aeon’s End Strategy Guide] Go-To Actions When You’re Unsure – Healer/Defender Role
But naturally, the question comes up:
“What about characters built for attacking?!”
It’s still tricky — especially when it comes to balancing:
- Which breaches to open and when
- Which spells to acquire
- The right timing to pick up powerful spells
As with any role, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” applies to attackers too. Your attacker’s decisions have a huge impact on damage to minions and the nemesis — and on your whole party’s survival.
In this post, I’ll break down the go-to actions for the attacker role when you’re not sure what to do.
Take a Gem in Turns 1–2!
Even as the attacker, I strongly recommend picking up a gem first.
As outlined in [Aeon’s End Strategy] Nemesis Defeat Basics – Part 1, start with V’riswood Amber and then grab Chaos Arc. Your goal is to cast Chaos Arc as many times as possible.
From around Turn 5, you can cast it roughly every 3 turns (though this depends on your hand size, so some fine-tuning may be needed).
Priority Order:
- 💎 Gems – Start with V’riswood Amber
- ✨ Spells – Chaos Arc → Planar Insight → Amplify Vision
- 🔮 Relics – Unstable Prism, Focusing Orb
- 🔓 Breach upgrades/opens – Aim to open Breach II within 2 turns of acquiring a spell
- 💎 Additional gems – Searing Ruby, Diamond Cluster
- ⚡ Charge
- 🗑️ Trash power cards
Once you’ve picked up gems and spells, open your breaches. Focusing Orb lets you heal Gravehold later; Amplify Vision lets you attack while upgrading breaches (a nice bonus, though secondary). The end goal is to get Breach III open using Focusing Orb, Amplify Vision, and similar cards.
Trashing power cards isn’t the attacker’s job — leave that to your healer/defender. In a 2-player game, weigh whether it’s better to take the hit or endure based on timing: Is this a spell-acquisition turn? What spells are in the supply? Is this a casting turn?
Only Charge When You Have Leftover Aether!
Once you’ve picked up spells and upgraded your breaches, it’s tempting to start charging — but your spell count is still low at that point. Prioritize opening Breach III and acquiring more spells and gems before charging.
If Xaxos is on your team, take advantage of his ability to distribute charges among allies.
As your spell count grows, you’ll sometimes find yourself with just 2 aether left that can’t be used for breach upgrades. That’s the right time to charge.
Take Damage Before Your Healer Does!
If Brama is on your team, conserve her HP as much as possible. As the attacker, prioritize taking damage yourself until you’re down to around 5 HP.
In the base game, Focusing Orb is the only way to heal Gravehold. If Gravehold’s HP drops below 20, prioritize having players absorb damage instead. Make sure you’ve picked up Focusing Orb before that point.
Summary
Here’s a recap of go-to actions for the attacker role when you’re unsure:
Attacker Priority Order: Gems > High-cost spells (e.g. Chaos Arc) > Spell cards ≧ Breach upgrades ≧ Deck thinning > Charge
Because attacking takes time to set up — far more so than healing — acquiring high-cost spells and upgrading breaches early is critical.
The best defense is a good offense.
See you next time! ✋
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