izigame.me

"Shall I describe it to you? Or would you like me to find you a box?" Gimli to Legolas aherm… Sylvie to Nenukil
So, is the dwarf good? Worth the money?
TLDR; Maybe. Nenukil’s best perk is “Mounted Cannon,” the remainder of the kit feels mediocre, and “Loaded Gun” feels too restrictive limiting gameplay and damage output. As one reviewer puts it: "an enigma" & "having high potential." Our lovely dwarf lacks the potency of other scouts and may require some buffing/tweaks. If you're dying for new content and can find the patience to explore his kit, it's worth the $5.
The ATO bio claims Nenukil is a “scout specialized in tactical combat and defense”. My early attempts to build the dwarf as a frontliner or big-hitter casting "Barrage", "Rain of Arrows", or "Explosive Shot" fell flat. There are two barriers to playing him as intended.
(1. “Loaded gun” sucks
While "Double Barrel" permits two attacks a turn with the added upside of fury/fast charges, this relegates us to mid/high-cost ranged attacks forcing a delicate deck balance of potent ranged and melee attacks(if we follow the kit’s design). When playing “Double Barrel,” you should ensure a delicate range/melee attack card ratio. I’d hazard a 60/40 or 70/30 split for ranged to melee cards. Lastly, the two-cost reduction of ranged attacks isn’t that potent. I played him in Nezglekt/Syvlie/Bree comp and discovered that the two-cost-reduction is weaker than a volume of low-cost ranged attacks. Shooting off two mid-costed cards like “backshot” or “lethal shot” in a turn was satisfying, but that strat isn’t strong enough for high madness levels.
(2. Scouts are terrible blockers.
Nen cannot function as a frontline blocker. I really tried to make him work; he seems perfect for the role. Using his stylish “Rocket Boots,” we can stack fast charges to pull ahead of monsters and throw down some defense for the team, right? Well, no… We have less than 7 options for block: Stoneskin, Feint, Parry, Deflect, Disengage, Caltrops, & Acrobatic Strike. I understand the balancing decision of upshifting “Parry” to epic but it makes a traditional block archetype unfeasible.
The Hidden Ace:
“Mounted Cannon’s” Blast outputs more damage than “Double Barrel” could ever accomplish: X Blunt and X Fire to target monster for each card in our vanish pile when we spend energy on a defense card. Our best targets here are low-cost targets like Stoneskin and Caltrops. These provide little defensive value but transform Nenukil into a self-sufficient walking ballista that can support blunt/fire builds. Prioritize upgrading and acquiring cards that vanish, and you will quickly be applying 20 fire and blunt damage per Blast. We can supplement this with the occasional ranged attack for respectable damage output.
The Meh:
"Proximity Mine" is too narrow, with only three scout cards for thorns. Mines is restricted to two uses and incentives us to avoid taking damage to maintain the thorn bonus, a feat difficult to accomplish with the lack of scout block cards.
“Exoskeleton” is an arguably worse "Defensive Mastery" at level four refunding energy and adding fortify charges.
“Repair Kits” health recovery and regen is random. The block charge increase is welcome but wanes compared to other level 3 scout upgrades.
Similarly, “Fast and Furious” lasts for six melee attacks and often doesn’t net more than 15 - 30 fury charges. A build dedicated around sprints & hit-and-runs will benefit the most from this, especially with “Greased Gears” 20% damage increase and the benefit of transforming fast charges into +1 damage. I haven’t tried a dedicated fast/melee build, so perhaps this is more powerful than I expected.
Some solutions to buff/alter Nenukil:
1. Make Nenukil a Hyrbid Scout/Warrior.

The warrior kit compliments the right side of the upgrade tree. Our lack of thorn, block, and defense cards would be eliminated. Furthermore, the often neglected ranged attacks: Bouncing Shield, Shield Throw, Throw Bolas, and Torment of Thorns can shine. Not to mention, the other warrior melee cards that would support "Fast and Furious." Lastly, "Endo Skeleton" permits players to chain together a wider range of block cards with the fortify bonus(I still feel it needs a buff).
2. Rework the "Loaded Gun Mechanic"
Casting a reduced-cost "Barrage", "Rain of arrows", or "Explosive Shot" is the dream; however, this accomplishment wanes when compared to “Ranged Mastery” and the restriction of two ranged attacks maximum per turn. The issue here is that these payoff cards are unavailable until much later in the game at legendary and epic. As a result, the early gameplay for Nenukil feels weak. The dwarf lacks a consistent damage boost like Sylvie, Thuls, and the other scouts. Four furies a turn is laughable compared to Grukli’s “Grudge & “Furious.”
So, at a fundamental level, this innate perk needs to change. Here are my suggestions from toying around with Nenukil for several hours in M10 Obelisk Challenge.
(a. Rework our Innate perk to include a mimicry of Sylvie's "Keen Sight": e.g. "Fast on this hero increases all damage by 0.5[or whatever value is best for balance). This frees up Greased Gears for a new perk option and increases the potency of our limited ranged attacks.
(b. Squeeze Rocket Boots into the innate perk or an early T1/T2 Perk. I don't like choosing between stacking fast charges and armor that would benefit Nenukil. Our dwarf is already on the weaker side; let's not punish players for picking up armor pieces.
(c. Give us a method to circumvent the reload debuff. Here are a few ideas below.
Rework “Reload” as a debuff: Reload: Unable to play “ranged attack” cards. Cannot normally be dispelled or prevented. Removed after playing a melee attack card that costs energy. This option synergizes well with the theme of "Fast and Furious" leaning into the strategy of balancing our kit with melee and ranged attack options.
Add a curse/status card players can use to circumvent Reload: Jam(Cost one energy and vanishes like Ash): Suffer 2 Burn and 3 Bleed. Unable to play ranged attacks while in hand.