Sigh
The complete lack of synergy among the Horsemen—especially around Waris soooooo disappointing.
The hydra guys flow together naturally, but the developers now seem to have completely overlooked basic cross-kit interactions here.
* Non-existent stun setup: Consuming stuns to execute lower health enemies works in theory, though wars stun has a 50/50 chance and is only for (pretty much) one turn even though it says it’s two and famine doesn’t stun at all
* Zero 5-star cohesion: Neither of the 4-star Horsemen synergises with War. Pestilence’s black ability could be decent, but it needs an “on destroy” trigger so it can at least combo with War’s green.
* War’s self-sabotage: Beyond team issues, War’s kit suffers from anti-synergy within itself, making her frustrating to play anyway. Her green destroys her own stuff
The actual design is not so bad I like the abilities they’re just too weak unless they start ACTUALLY nerfing OP characters and synergies
Even more frustrating is that if you ask even AI to help synergise the horsemen they come up with great suggestions.
Google Geminis take:
Resolving the overlapping AP costs and counterproductive tile destruction between the new 4★ Pestilence, 4★ Famine (First Horsemen), and 5★ War (First Horseman) is the primary obstacle to making them a top-tier synergistic team. Optimizing this Horseman lineup requires ensuring their mechanics feed into each other rather than competing for board space.
1. Resolve the Purple AP Color Clash
War and Famine currently contest the Purple AP pool, creating a severe bottleneck in the team’s rotation.
* The Conflict: Famine’s Ravenous Hunger requires a heavy 8 Purple AP to deploy a Repeater tile, directly competing with War’s cheap 3 Purple AP Cup of Blightswill Trap tiles.
* The Fix: Shift Famine’s Ravenous Hunger to Black or Yellow. This allows War to maintain exclusive control over Purple for consistent stunning and AP generation, while Famine utilizes an uncontested color to sustain the team’s health.
2. Rework Famine’s Tile Destruction
Famine’s Repeater tile actively starves War of the AP needed to cast her high-cost abilities.
* The Conflict: Ravenous Hunger destroys surrounding tiles without generating AP. This random destruction starves War of the 7 Red and 8 Green AP she needs, and it risks wiping out War’s Green Strike tiles or Red Sword Countdowns.
* The Fix: Update Famine’s ability so that destroyed tiles do generate AP, explicitly fueling War’s offensive powers. Add a mechanical caveat: “Friendly Strike, Trap, and Countdown tiles destroyed by this effect are fortified or relocated rather than removed.”
3. Position Pestilence as the Rainbow Anchor
To bridge the gap between War’s aggressive board flooding and Famine’s attrition, 4★ Pestilence must cover the remaining color voids (Blue/Black/Yellow) and capitalize on their teammates’ tile generation.
* Passive Affliction (Blue): Pestilence should have a passive that triggers off ally mechanics. For example: “Whenever War’s Red Countdown or Famine’s Repeater activates, Pestilence deals X damage and creates a Disease tile that reduces enemy match damage by 15%.”
* Tile Consumption (Yellow/Black): Since War’s Cleansing Fire floods the board with 12 Green Strike tiles, Pestilence should have an active ability that consumes a small number of friendly Strike tiles to apply a team-wide burst heal or target debuff, acting as an offensive support pivot.
4. Introduce an “Apocalypse’s Vanguard” Affiliation Bonus
Adding a shared passive for deploying multiple First Horsemen would elevate their competitive viability and lock down the board state.
* The Fix: Grant a built-in passive where fielding three “First Horseman” characters automatically fortifies the first 3 friendly special tiles created each turn. This directly protects Famine’s Repeaters, War’s Traps, and Pestilence’s Disease tiles from incidental enemy cascades, guaranteeing their attrition damage over
longer battles.
