Shenlong Lists

[Modernpenguin]

I don't own them sadly, but if I did I would try them in corrupted idols. They seem like a fine pair to bring into that strategy.

 

[mattbird]

I tried them out last night (3 of them) and it definitely worked. I wasn't able to hit or cheat the ram trigger as much as I thought I would for 4/5/6 damage, but the poison damage reduction trick made them incredibly survivable. The main issue is that it takes a turn or more of setup to get poison going. 

[bedjy]

Does anyone has some explanation or detailed timed starting with shenlong to know how to set up the first turn ?

[Modernpenguin]

8 hours ago, bedjy said:

Does anyone has some explanation or detailed timed starting with shenlong to know how to set up the first turn ?

Well, my core for shenlong (shenlong, 2x students, sensei yu, and Low river monk) always start close together, to make the distracted + chi farmfest happen. Low river gives passive heals as well. 

I've attached a crappy paint drawing to give you an idea of position. It always depends on deployment, and matchup, but just a general gist. If you are under threat of getting blast attacks on your group in turn 1, play them further apart. Both sensei yu, and students can charge into shenlong instead, if needed. 

I drew stuff in the left corner, that was basically just a coincidence. It always depends on terrain, deployment, matchup etc. 

Order of activation:
Usually, I start activating my students. They function as pass tokens, while I amp up chi and distracted on shenlong. 
Usually I move sensei yu up the board as soon as all the shenlong beating is done (and if I am under no pressure, I can hit shenlong with sensei yu for more cards!). He needs to spend some of his actions to move with the crew, his brutal sensei ability is just that bloody strong. 

Shenlong: I strive to activate him last. His 12'' charge range makes him a devastating threat to your opponent, so you need to hold out with  him as long as possible. If the enemy is nowhere near me, and I cannot make a play, I usually go into low river style for the extra concentrate action on my low river monk(s). Wandering could also be utilized if I needed that extra push on a key model. 

Anyway, that's how I have been dealing with turn 1. Maybe other people have more optimized ways of doing turn 1, and if so, I would love to hear them! 

[Erik1978]

I never put distracted on shenlong. If you do, you have to do the fermented river style and I'd like to swap to whichever suits me better. I use wandering a lot, then suddenly swap to low river to heal a friend etc.

[NickDub]

11 hours ago, Erik1978 said:

I never put distracted on shenlong. If you do, you have to do the fermented river style and I'd like to swap to whichever suits me better. I use wandering a lot, then suddenly swap to low river to heal a friend etc.

The first round Chi/Distracted loadout is good for alpha strike and first activation of round 2. After that, you should have a good idea of the game state and adapt from there. Distracted 4 is easy burn through in 2 activations.

[Modernpenguin]

On 10/25/2019 at 2:27 PM, Erik1978 said:

I never put distracted on shenlong. If you do, you have to do the fermented river style and I'd like to swap to whichever suits me better. I use wandering a lot, then suddenly swap to low river to heal a friend etc.

Even with that strategy in mind (I believe you use wandering to position your own models?), distracted is not an obstacle to you. It only affects actions that target enemy models. If you are trying to kill stuff, fermented is the way to go. The flips are extremely good, but the attack that comes with it, makes shenlong impossible to pin down. Giving yourself +flips on attack, while building up your chi-count is pretty hard to pass on in my opinion. 🙂 


I often do 3 distracted, as I find I want to swap style after the first round of engagements (and don't always have the tome in hand to swap) and I usually only use 3 distracted in a turn. 

[Erik1978]

Quote

distracted is not an obstacle to you. It only affects actions that target enemy models.

This might come as a shock but I DO know the rules for distracted (and the game in general).

I often push enemy models. 6" push is fantastic, along with getting that scheme marker ½" away from the centerline or away from terrain to make their scheme a bit harder to pull off.

Killing stuff is always great but it won't necessarily win the game, which is why I like to use Shenlong for more than just kicking things. He works fine without Distracted for me, the power is in the damage flip, hitting things is no problem.

[DeleteAccount]

Seems like all the playing with yourself could really screw you over once the opponent knows what you are on about, specially with the Distracted trick. Faced a Rasputina that was placing ice pillars blocking Shenlong constantly, so moral of the story, he only managed to attack once in like turn 4, rest of the time he ended up swapping between Low River and Wandering River since thankfully he can do whatever is needed at a given moment.

[NickDub]

3 hours ago, Razhem said:

Seems like all the playing with yourself could really screw you over once the opponent knows what you are on about, specially with the Distracted trick. Faced a Rasputina that was placing ice pillars blocking Shenlong constantly, so moral of the story, he only managed to attack once in like turn 4, rest of the time he ended up swapping between Low River and Wandering River since thankfully he can do whatever is needed at a given moment.

True lesson of that story, bring marker removal into raspy. 

[DeleteAccount]

On 10/26/2019 at 8:57 PM, NickDub said:

True lesson of that story, bring marker removal into raspy. 

Yup, next time Sidir joined the fun and though not amazing, was certainly helpful.

Question for more veteran Shenlong players. So I only really have High, Low and River monks as well as archers. Fermented I'm pretty meh on, and looking through the rest of the roster, only Lotus Eaters kind of seem interesting. Is it me or is this one of those versatile fodder themes? Anything in theme that is sort of a must have?

Also, is the Chi ball on turn 1 a must or can the crew work well sort of on the fly? I tend to really dislike these "complicated set up" crews, and though I don't oppose doing a bit of it, it seems like Shenlong goes full balls to the wall with it.

[Cursed25]

1 hour ago, Razhem said:

Yup, next time Sidir joined the fun and though not amazing, was certainly helpful.

Question for more veteran Shenlong players. So I only really have High, Low and River monks as well as archers. Fermented I'm pretty meh on, and looking through the rest of the roster, only Lotus Eaters kind of seem interesting. Is it me or is this one of those versatile fodder themes? Anything in theme that is sort of a must have?

Also, is the Chi ball on turn 1 a must or can the crew work well sort of on the fly? I tend to really dislike these "complicated set up" crews, and though I don't oppose doing a bit of it, it seems like Shenlong goes full balls to the wall with it.

Shenlong needs a lot of chi to really shine and destroy stuff! He is the star of the show and I think you have to do a small bunchup turn 1 to give him at least 4-5 chi! This doesn't need a lot of models to do! the 2 students with a low river monk and sensei yu nearby can give well enough chi and only costed 13ss on your hiring pool!

 

For the rest of the soulstones, I really like Wandering river monks to scheme and for the rest of the keyword I find it to be too much glass cannon! Some Monks are good counterpicks against some crews (like Charm Warders vs Demise crew) but usually I like to fill the rest of my crew with versatile models instead of Monks.

[Paradigm]

I actually don't really do the whole cycle of having models hit Shenlong with Sensei Yu around, and it worked well enough to win the Swedish Nationals with Shenlong as my only master. Instead I settle for having a Low River Monk Concentrate twice to get 3 chi, and then both Students walk forward and use bonus action to move Chi from Low River Monk to Shenlong. That way you can load him with 3 chi without the time consuming or complicated setup activations. It's also really good to have all of his actions available in case the opponent moves forward to where he can reach something juicy. As soon as he gets into combat, I tend to use Soulstones to add masks to every attack to get up to 6 chi extra once he starts hitting things. This way I don't really need Sensei Yu and can afford to get more big beaters instead.

[Trample]

4 hours ago, Paradigm said:

I actually don't really do the whole cycle of having models hit Shenlong with Sensei Yu around, and it worked well enough to win the Swedish Nationals with Shenlong as my only master. Instead I settle for having a Low River Monk Concentrate twice to get 3 chi, and then both Students walk forward and use bonus action to move Chi from Low River Monk to Shenlong. That way you can load him with 3 chi without the time consuming or complicated setup activations. It's also really good to have all of his actions available in case the opponent moves forward to where he can reach something juicy. As soon as he gets into combat, I tend to use Soulstones to add masks to every attack to get up to 6 chi extra once he starts hitting things. This way I don't really need Sensei Yu and can afford to get more big beaters instead.

Sensei Yu does have decent value beyond that initial turn, although the first turn is really where he shines. He's pretty resilient with Chi, HTK, and Juggernaut and has card draw, which is always good. You approach is interesting though, I may have to try that. 

[DeleteAccount]

On 11/3/2019 at 10:07 AM, Paradigm said:

I actually don't really do the whole cycle of having models hit Shenlong with Sensei Yu around, and it worked well enough to win the Swedish Nationals with Shenlong as my only master. Instead I settle for having a Low River Monk Concentrate twice to get 3 chi, and then both Students walk forward and use bonus action to move Chi from Low River Monk to Shenlong. That way you can load him with 3 chi without the time consuming or complicated setup activations. It's also really good to have all of his actions available in case the opponent moves forward to where he can reach something juicy. As soon as he gets into combat, I tend to use Soulstones to add masks to every attack to get up to 6 chi extra once he starts hitting things. This way I don't really need Sensei Yu and can afford to get more big beaters instead.

Will definitely copy this approach! Thanks for sharing.

[le_wahou]

On 11/3/2019 at 10:07 AM, Paradigm said:

I actually don't really do the whole cycle of having models hit Shenlong with Sensei Yu around, and it worked well enough to win the Swedish Nationals with Shenlong as my only master. Instead I settle for having a Low River Monk Concentrate twice to get 3 chi, and then both Students walk forward and use bonus action to move Chi from Low River Monk to Shenlong. That way you can load him with 3 chi without the time consuming or complicated setup activations. It's also really good to have all of his actions available in case the opponent moves forward to where he can reach something juicy. As soon as he gets into combat, I tend to use Soulstones to add masks to every attack to get up to 6 chi extra once he starts hitting things. This way I don't really need Sensei Yu and can afford to get more big beaters instead.

Concentrate is once per activation. You can get 2 chi from each river monks with this (1 on activation, one on concentrate), not 3

[Trample]

6 minutes ago, le_wahou said:

Concentrate is once per activation. You can get 2 chi from each river monks with this (1 on activation, one on concentrate), not 3

Shenlong's ability Training Grounds allows them (friendly monks that is) concentrate multiple times per round. 

[frumpypigskin]

15 hours ago, le_wahou said:

Concentrate is once per activation. You can get 2 chi from each river monks with this (1 on activation, one on concentrate), not 3

Came so close to saying this myself but checked shenlong's card before posting. 

Soo many "if's" and "but's" in this game!

[bedjy]

22 hours ago, le_wahou said:

Concentrate is once per activation. You can get 2 chi from each river monks with this (1 on activation, one on concentrate), not 3

Shenlong's Training Ground ability let monks concentrate without restrictions. So you can get 4 Chi per model

[Ogid]

A good trick for a first turn with Sensei Yu if the selected style is going to be the Fermented is using Wind Blast to move him a bit forward, that's enough to charge instead of walking with the students/low rivers without losing movement. When charging with students/low rivers low/moderate tomes may be cheated to get the inner pace trigger, giving him 1 chi, 1 distracted and also generating 1 chi for the low river/student; doing this he can be buffed while keeping the team in movement and with resources for themselves. In his activation Shenlong may use his bonus action to make an student perform Chanted sutra a second time for an extra chi point or patch him up with Revitalize if he is not going to charge forward the first turn.

Shenlong will get 3 Distracted+1 and 8 Chi (4 Chi from the attacks and 3 for the chanted sutras, plus the start of the turn one); he would need a bit of patch up from LRM, Students or a Tanuki tho, but he is all set to go forward in turn 1 fully buffed if he wants.

If the other team is too far away or if Shenlong want moar! chi, a student who charges with the tome, concentrate and it's not the target of Chanted Sutra will have 3 Chi ready to be transfered to Shenlong. So he could have up to 14 Chi using 2 actions to transfer chi... overkill imo but doable. Another greedy opening without expending Shenlong's APs is using this but including 1 Terracota to transfer Chi from 1 student, giving Shenlong 11 Chi in turn 1 without using any of his APs.

[Erik1978]

It sounds like you forgot the "once per activation" of Sensei Yu's aura? And how many "low tomes" do you usually have?

[Ogid]

2 hours ago, Erik1978 said:

It sounds like you forgot the "once per activation" of Sensei Yu's aura? And how many "low tomes" do you usually have?

Haha, check it again I took that in count . Shenlong will be attacked by Yu (push), 2 students and 1 LRM in different activations: 1 chi per activation in 4 activations = 4 Chi

The tomes is dependent on the game, I'd use anything lower than a severe there; realisticaly 1 low tome is expected in the hand and with 3 attacks with that triggers 1 of them could flip that tome, so 2 fairly consistent and 3 with some luck (2 tomes in hand or 2 flipped). But the tomes aren't needed unless you go for the ultra greedy 14 Chi opening (2 tomes). With 0 tomes Shenlong may get the 8 Chi opening and only 1 tome is needed for the 11 Chi opening (asuming the LRM will use his second AP healing shenlong)

 

[bedjy]

17 minutes ago, Ogid said:

Haha, check it again I took that in count . Shenlong will be attacked by Yu (push), 2 students and 1 LRM in different activations: 1 chi per activation in 4 activations = 4 Chi

The tomes is dependent on the game, I'd use anything lower than a severe there; realisticaly 1 low tome is expected in the hand and with 3 attacks with that triggers 1 of them could flip that tome, so 2 fairly consistent and 3 with some luck (2 tomes in hand or 2 flipped). But the tomes aren't needed unless you go for the ultra greedy 14 Chi opening (2 tomes). With 0 tomes Shenlong may get the 8 Chi opening and only 1 tome is needed for the 11 Chi opening (asuming the LRM will use his second AP healing shenlong)

 

I've used a lotus eater to give adversary : monks (and a bonus attack) to Shenlong so that other monks could easily find some tomes to gain chi

[Ogid]

23 minutes ago, bedjy said:

I've used a lotus eater to give adversary : monks (and a bonus attack) to Shenlong so that other monks could easily find some tomes to gain chi

This is why I love forums... I'll use this little trick with the BBS. Ty!

[TheMoxiousOne]

My list is fairly weird, but I've had a lot of fun running it. I've swapped the McCabe for Izamu a few times, but the deep stone pool allows for getting what you need on both masters, while still being able to pitch stones for more cards consistently; hope this list helps! 

Shenlong

Aspiring Student x2

Lucas McCabe

-Masked Agent 

Sensei Yu

Fermented River Monk x2

-Trained Ninja x2