Troop Focus – Rowanne

Rowanne Deep Dive

Many Gems of War players consistently recommend Rowanne for early game team building. Despite this, I was lukewarm about her for a long time. But I eventually saw the error of my ways. I am now an enthusiastic member of the Rowanne fan club! Many high level players use Rowanne for farming only, but at low and intermediate levels she helps to make up a pretty good all-round combat team build.

So what does Rowanne do that makes her so great? Well, her spell is an area of effect (AoE) attack that does scatter damage equal to her Magic plus three, boosted twice her current armour score. That might not sound too great, but remember that the boost doesn’t just apply to Rowanne’s original armour but her current total. This isn’t just buffed by in-combat spells but by gamewide passive boosts, of which there are many. Put all of these together and she can be a potent AoE attacker who scales well.

Of course, she can lose armour as well, which is one reason for not putting her in slot number one. Quite a few Troops target the “last enemy”, so slot four can also be risky. Many of the recommended teams you’ll see put Rowanne in slot 2. Personally I prefer slot 3. Just be careful the nothing above her blocking her Mana colours.

Rowanne works well early game in base form, but is a lot better when traited up. In particular, you really want to get her third trait, Reinforced, which lets her gradually recover armour if she does get hit.

Rowanne Team Building

How do you go about building a team based around Rowanne? Well, early game the best Rowanne team will depend heavily on which Troops you’ve pulled so far. As usual on this site, I’m going to assume you don’t have any Mythics yet. Also as usual, rather than simply presenting you with a finished ‘best’ team build to copy and netdeck, I’ll instead be discussing options to help you design your own.

Which troops work best with Rowanne? Well, something that can boost her armour is clearly a must. At low player levels with no Mythics, this might include Troops such as Ostryx (also generates mana) or Anubite Warrior. Moving up to Legendary Troops, Tink Steamwhistle is worth a look. Waverider is an Epic rarity option that both boosts Armor and gives Submerge which protects her (and her armour) from AoE, however it does have an overlap of mana colour so will need to go below Rowanne in your team.

Try searching through your Troops filtering for Spell Effect ‘Increase Skill Points’ and the word ‘Armor’ to see your options.

Unless I’m building a very specialised team, I always like to include my Hero and a Weapon at lower levels.

Class options depend on the role you want your hero to play on the team. Elementalist has Traits that boost Elementals and talents that boost blue allies, both of which apply to Rowanne; if you have it fully traited then it has some major control power. Hierophant is Fey and a good generic ally booster which can also work as a tank. Priest is a good generic support class with an armour boosting

For a weapon, if you want one that boosts Rowanne’s armour then the legendary Golden Cog is excellent. Another useful legendary weapon for boosting armour is the Anvil of Might. However the Ultra-Rare White Aegis also works well and only costs 8 Mana to use.

Leaves one slot free, here are a few ideas on how to fill it:

• If you don’t want to rely exclusively on Rowanne – in case the enemy uses an Instakill on her – you might want to include another attacker.
• If you’re going to be putting an armour boost on the team, how about also including another armour-based troop, maybe Lady Ironbeard?
• A tank in slot one can help buy more time to power up Rowanne.
• Another option is a mana producer, maybe something that explodes gems or produces Blue/Green gems (her colours).
• You might want to include a Troop specifically to protect Rowanne by giving her Barrier (not Reflect).

As always, it comes down to which troops you actually have, how they synergise and their mana colours.

A Real Boy

Which just leaves one final question: What does Rowanne’s tagline mean? Since she’s made of wood, I’m assuming it’s a Pinocchio reference; as far as I know, Rowanne isn’t trans!