Ruleset rumble and why I love Equalizer
Favorite Ruleset?
The Equalizer ruleset is one of my favorites. With Equalizer everything has the same health as the highest unit. It's my favorite because it can get so very silly. Having a unit whose normally got 3 hp having 12 is ludicrous to me and it makes me happy.
How to plan for it?
First - picking an Archon - It's likely to be a long fight.
The blind effect can prevent a lot of damage.
Expose taking out effects like void armour, shield, and immunity can help deal damage a lot faster.
And poison over time is great for a long fight.




![]() | If it's an option I LOVE cryptic. The blind effect can prevent a lot of damage. Expose taking out effects like void armour, shield, and immunity can help deal damage a lot faster. And poison over time is great for a long fight. | ![]() | Bella is also a solid option. Deflection shield could end up negating a lot if you're opponent uses units with retaliate, briar patch, or any of those. If they have tofu it'll def help. And some units having shield will prevent a lot of damage. |
---|---|---|---|
![]() | ![]() | ||
![]() | If you have melee orc units you can summon, Gorgug might be a good choice since enrage ups damage significantly, and with equalizer they'll be standing for a long time doing all that damage. | ![]() | Honestly, unless it's a low mana fight, there's not a lot of bad choices. Marlai Singariel from the foundation set could be a good choice. |
Now onto Unit choices!
The first thing to consider is health. If you put something beefy like the Ulundin Overseer, everyone on the field gets that much health and you've paid a 11 mana for it. I try to pick as low health units as possible. Worst case scenario it actually ends up being a short fight cause both me and my opponent picked the same strat and now the rule set doesn't matter as much.
That said abilities play a vital role. Having the wrong abilities can lose a fight just as easily as the right ones can win it.
Defensive abilities like shield, void armour, phase and lookout can make beefy units last even long.
Debuffs like silence, demoralize and headwind can slow down damage, and again, make your beefy units survive longer. If there's a rule set that limits unit types these can become even more potent.
Buffs like Inspiration, help wear down your opponent faster.
For equalizer fights I also prefer to have everyone targeting the front line. Obviously this isn't possible with some rulesets. (like if you get aimless and going the distance) So things like sneak, aimless, and stealth are abilities I try to avoid unless everyone has sneak or stealth so the attacks are still all still hitting one person. That said giving one unit with aimless with Cryptic's tactic can result in a whole line up poisoned.
I also avoid things like Reckless and Burn BUT if your more of a risk taker than I, you could do something really potent and scary with reckless + pain-forged. Especially if you have a healer like Arachne with corrupted healing. It has a chance of backfiring but it also has a chance of making a unit with a massive attack that will devastate the rest of the group. That said, unless it's a very low mana match I would not bring in Shock troopers or water diviner as their electrified ability will whittle you down without the benefit of triggering Painforged.
Units with counter attack abilities like Retaliate, Deflection, Return Fire, and Thorns can also end up doing a great deal of damage over the course of the fight. However, as these are all dependent on other factors I wouldn't prioritize them in a team build unless there is another rule set that limits unit types then the right type of counter could be higher priority. And if the rule set gives amplify, then this is even more true.
The other thing to keep in mind is healers. Triage, Tank Heal and Corrupted Healling all work on percentages. So if you can take a healer and/or a unit with affliction to stop healing can be huge. Also units with life leech can become ridiculous. Plus life leech helps keep the max hp higher which counters the downside of corrupted healing.
Abilities such as Snare could also be useful as flying helps dodge and when paired with Swiftness, and/or Blind can mean a lot of melee and ranged attacks miss.
Abilities like ,deathblow which only trigger when there is only one unit left, or Giant Killer, which only work on units costing ten mana or more, or Execute which only trigger when something has 1 or 2 health left, are less valuable in am equalizer fight. They don't have the downside of spreading damage like sneak and stealth but they aren't as awesome in these fights as they could be in others.
Some of my favorite equalizer units
(these are folks i have in my deck. I'm sure there are other great units but i don't own them)
![]() | |
---|---|
![]() | Arache Weaver- For the corrupted healing. The two magic damage is also a boon. |
![]() | Abyssal Elemental - double the health. enough said. Also at lvl 2 has two magic damage so it'll be doing that damage a lot. Combine resurgence with a healer and you got someone that the other team is gonna spend a lot of time taking out. |
![]() | Stampeding Calf - cheap, low health and has charge so they can attack from anywhere. Combine that with Bella, and they get shield as well. |
![]() | Dark Aborlist - demoralize, low mana cost, and only five health. |
![]() | Silverleaf Warlock - swiftness, two magic attack, and only five health. |
![]() | ShadowFey Sheik - flying, life leech, two magic attack and only five health, also has a reasonable mana cost of six. |
![]() | Caravan guard - Only if they are high enough level/gold so they have triage. |
![]() | Olivia Of The Brook - I know I said no sneak, buuuuut if she's lvl 2or higher the mimic ability makes up for it. In a long fight she'll end up with a lot of fun abilities. |
One Final Note
And this applies to all matches
Always take a few seconds to look at the opponents favored strategy and consider the splinters available. If green and/or white are available and your opponent has played tofu in previous matches, expect tofu.
Final note,
huge shoutout to @cherokee4life for doing my formatting.
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:w4x7iwvcjaa3kiufviheobhx/post/3ltxjjic62k2y
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:w4x7iwvcjaa3kiufviheobhx/post/3ltxjjic62k2y
The rewards earned on this comment will go to the author of the blog post.
Thanks for sharing! - @cieliss

Yeah the Weaver is definitely awesome for equalizer, especially if your opponent is dumb enough to spread the damage with sneak or snipe 😁 good post!
yuuup, sometimes sneak is very good, buuut not for equalizer.
@artofkylin, I paid out 0.431 HIVE and 0.105 HBD to reward 4 comments in this discussion thread.