This is going to be a start of a series where I will introduce you to how I play each clan and think about the cards.

In the following sections I will rate and give a brief overview of each card in the clan. 10/10 is one of the best at this phase of the game. 0/10 doesn't handle it at all. I feel in this game there are 3 puzzles to solve; Small Units (tend to be the back line), Big Units (the beefy front line that you need to clear to get to the back), and Boss (the last guy.

Quick general tips that can help out:

• Pretty much value first unit upgrade over spells upgrade
  
• Always look at free information before picking units (that means look at upgrades before picking unit)
  
• Keep your deck low on cards (I like 22-25 range) toward the mid game - late game.
  
• Find what you want to do with the deck and stay with it.
  
• Killing the collectors is very important. If not playing a deck with a lot of direct damage, I like to start with units in the 2nd and 3rd card to make sure I get a chance.
  
• You only really get units after the first 4 fights
  
• If you have damage dealers, make sure they have a tank and give the tanks health.

Meet the Hornbreaker Prince: the leader card of the Hellhorned. He comes in three forms:

• Brawler: You want to get rage/attack upgrade cards to get the best out of him. Multistrike: 1/2/4
  
• Reaper: I play him a lot like the brawler. Slay: 10/20/40 (Slay is dealing the finishing blow)
  
• Wrathful: I never pick. Slay: Armor 5/10/20 Revenge: Rage 1/2/4 (Revenge is when you take damage)

The Brawler is a much better unit now. The extra armor is going to help him a lot. He still plays the same though, you want rage and you want a little extra armor because of some sweep guys.

Small Units: 9/10
Big Units: 8/10
Boss: 8/10

Reaper... they just keep making him better, extra attack. He still plays the same as the Brawler but will need more armor spells to protect him.

Small Units: 8/10
Big Units: 9/10
Boss: 8/10

Wrathful is still the worse by far, unless you are trying to play an armor build I wouldn't really consider him. He doesn't scale as fast as the others and it makes him getting slay really hard. You might consider him on the top track tank.

Small Units: 3/10
Big Units: 2/10
Boss: 2/10

For an endgame build I like double brawler/ reaper or double reaper/ brawler. Both of these builds tend to make really good glass cannons. He will still need some cards to help him with life but in any given run you should be able to find something.

Each Clan starts with a Clan basic card, which is Torch for the Hellhorn



Rank: #1

I find this to be the best of the Clan basic cards: while 2 damage doesn't seem to be a lot, for the first 2/3rds of the game it can hit the back line and the... treasure cupids? Target removal is why I consider it the best.

In the following sections I will rate and give a brief overview of each card in the clan. 10/10 is one of the best at this phase of the game. 0/10 doesn't handle it at all. I feel in this game there are 3 puzzles to solve; Small Units (tend to be the back line), Big Units (the beefy front line that you need to clear to get to the back), and Boss (the last guy.

I tend to rate Boss killing to be the most important because that is what it takes to win the game, and if you can't kill him the pyre is probably not going to help. Small units tend to deal the damage or some kind of annoy effect and Big units tend to be low damage but if not cleared the small ones will do to much damage.

Fledgling Imp: A decent unit if you have a lot of multi-strike, also not bad at helping with boss and tank fights if you have 2 units or more in the train

Small Units: 0/10
Big Units: 4/10
Boss: 4/10

Molting Imp: A great way to hit the weak back line and can take a hit for your units

Small Units: 8/10
Big Units: 2/10
Boss: 0/10

Welder Helper: My main problem with this unit is the fact the armor is applied to the front unit. This means he will take up a slot on the cart but doesn't offer anything after his summon. The other 2 give you an effect and then quickly die when placed in front, freeing up space. In an armor build deck he is better. Though it does make a decent 1 pip unit to put in the front.

Vent: Finding a way to wipe out a line of enemies is a great feeling and this can do it for you. Adding +10 magic power to this card early is really important. It gives the card the ability to be played for 0 and still deal 10 damage to a row.

Small Units: 8/10
Big Units: 0/10
Boss: 0/10

Fortify: It's a good cheap way to protect your leader, who needs the help given his low health pool.

Hidden Passage: This card allows to over stack a cart (the max is 7 units, you can go over the pips limit), Also, you can have your leader pick off the back enemy units really easily by just having your leader in the 2nd cart and ascending the enemies for an easy slay.

Small Units: 0/10
Big Units: 0/10
Boss: 8/10

Horn Break: Piercing: Ignores armor and spell shield. I'm not saying that Pierce isn't nothing but for the most part Torch can do the same job, and 5 damage isn't very much. This can pick of a few high armor, low life tanks.

Small Units: 7/10
Big Units: 4/10
Boss: 0/10

Ritual of Battle: Rage is very important for the slay keyword. While this cost is pretty high, just lowering the cost (which is always an option at the magic shop) and/or double stack enchantment makes this card amazing.

Branded Warrior: I find he is decent in a 6 pip cart (2/2/2 unit) but the 5 life is always pretty scary.

Small Units: 2/10
Big Units: 2/10
Boss: 2/10

Horned Warrior: I like him more than the Branded Warrior but I feel he requires a health upgrade to be good. I normally don't take him unless I can upgrade him right away, but if you get him with life he is pretty decent.

Small Units: 2/10
Big Units: 7/10
Boss: 6/10

Impish Scholar: The reason for his low rank is because his worth is pretty dependent on your consumables. If I have one or two consumables I tend to remove the consumables if I can. The randomness also hurts him; I like to put consumable on my starter spells to help thin my deck out and he could pull those back out.

Pyre Chomper: I will be honest I don't have much experience with him. I never take him because I like my decks to be low cost so I can play my hand pretty much every turn. So for him to be good/great you need him to be in your hand with a lot of high cost stuff or x stuff. If he is in a hand with all low cost stuff he doesn't offer much besides a body to take a hit.

Railbeater: A good early tank unit and good in the armor build. His strike ability is unique which will remove the tank and allow you to slay the back row. Be aware though: it makes combat a little different.

Small Units: 6/10
Big Units: 2/10
Boss: 2/10

Steelworker: Great top tank, I like to sit him on top and forget about him. He is a safety net with a damage dealer on top.

Small Units: 2/10
Big Units: 2/10
Boss: 5/10

Alpha Fiend: Give him Multi-Strike and he is great. He has a decent amount of life compared to most of the hellhorned units which is nice to have. After playing with him some more, he isn't that good without multi-strike. His build up is pretty slow and he is 3 pip unit which makes him less flexible.

Small Units: 2/10
Big Units: 2/10
Boss: 5/10

Demon Fiend:The only thing that stops him from being a great unit is his cost. At the higher levels not being able to cast him early in the game (before you get the mana upgrade) can be very costly, but once you can cast him he is great. The other slight issue with him is he will pretty much take all your mana and can stop you from casting another unit that turn.

Small Units: 5/10
Big Units: 7/10
Boss: 7/10

Imp-in-a-Box: When I play I don't find random to be enjoyable. I also don't find most Imps to be great either. If you are playing an Imp deck though it's pretty good.

Imp-portant Work: It helps get rid of Imps with plus value.

Rage Serum: Rage! More rage! It's the cornerstone of your clan and the leader.

Imp-pressive: Great if you have a lot of Imps, if not it's a dead card.

March of Shields: Decent armor to cost ratio. You tend to want to put armor on the tank so the move effect is fine. Also remember you can do it to the enemy units. Giving 10 armor to a unit with really low hp shouldn't matter too much. This also helps if you are stacking a huge cart with ascend effects, it helps the tanks get in front

Branding Rite: Decent card, needs to cost 1 to be great. Really good with Awaken healing.

Enflame: Always happy to have it in my deck. Helps protect the leader and slay. Double stack is amazing.

Tiresome Climb: Dazed 2 is great defense and allows for slay. My only negative is it doesn't work great on your own units.

Battering Ram: This is the reason to play armor. If you can get it early you can go armor stacking. Copying this only helps and makes the build really work.

Inferno: I give it this ranking based on playing a 2 cart setup. I normally change the way I play if I get this card. I like to leave the first cart open and wipe out the first floor, but you lose the ability to play a 3 cart setup. Don't forget it has pierce!

Deranged Brute: You got rage... well make it better. A great card to place on the top cart and enjoy the benefits. Why it's not higher rated is because the unit itself isn't that great but he has a great ability if you are going rage. Can also be a weak tank early in the game.

Small Units: 2/10
Big Units: 2/10
Boss: 2/10

Transcendimp: If you look at this card as a pure Hellhorn card he isn't that great outside of heavy imps, but the fact that you get a 2nd class means this card can be pretty good.

Consumer of Crowns: He isn't that playable outside of imps but if you get Volatile Gauge (+3 card draw all cards cost 0-3) artifact he is an auto-include.

Spike of the Hellhorned: It's a slightly weaker Enflame--it doesn't have the ability to lower the cost and it consumes--but it does have the upside that you can put more than 2 mana into it.

Dark Deal: Great rage generator. The loss of 5 life can be pretty big for the damage dealers but still great and it makes the tanks pretty dangerous. Can be used on weak back lines.

Alloy of the Ancients: Just a lot of armor for it's cost. I feel it goes great in every deck and the fact you can remove the consume and -1 cost gives you a 1 cost 25 armor. Just amazing.

Imp-olate: As with most imp cards you need imps to make them good, though this one I would be fine with just 2 imps.

Last Stand: High cost, but if you are building rage it's pretty good!

Reinforce: Only thing holding this card back is you have to be building armor and it has consume.

Onehorn's Tome: If it cost 4 it would be amazing, but at the 5 cost you have to go though hoops to make it work. It's worth it though.

I'm just going though these quickly because it should be pretty obvious.

Clan Artifacts:
Ashes of the Fallen: Summons abilities trigger an additional time. Fine in imp builds.
Collection of Tails: Rage does not decay. Maybe the best rage artifact.
Consumed Crown: Friendly units gain +2 attack on kill. Not as great as it looks.
Grrrg's Goad: Demon units get Multi-strike 1. It makes all the Demons amazing.
Imp-cicle: At the start of your turn, add a random Imp unit to your hand. If you have a lot of room it's decent.
Railhammer: Grant +4 stacks of Armor each time it is applied. I'm not sure this will make me play the armor leader.
Resonant Shard: Rage adds an additional +1 attack per stack. Fine, nothing amazing.
Scorched Steel: Friendly units enter with Armor 5. Fine but boring, your imps should still die if you need them to.
Scorching Restraints: Friendly units enter with Rage 3. Not as good as it looks. I tend to place units down once I get them. So there is a good chance the rage will fall off before it does much.
The Unbroken Horn: Conserve mana between turns. Just a really fun artifact.

Combos with other clans:

Awoken: I really like the tanks in awoken and find it a great pairing. With Hellhorn's spells that deal self-damage, having healing can be nice. I will say I don't find any of their artifacts play well with Hellhorn besides maybe Cursed Vines (50% chance to swap the front and back enemy units when they enter your train).

Stygain Guard: Not my favorite pairing, but Titan Sentry is one of my favorite tanks (0att 35life, Revenge: Apply Frostbite (deal damage equal to the stacks) 3 to enemy units) They have the best damage spells and adding spell weakness and Inferno is a cool combo.

Umbra: It has 2 decent tanks in Collector and Warden and the morsels are decent at taking a hit. Also the Emberdrain cards can make the damage dealers even better and they have a few damage shield cards to help protect the tank. Chain of Gains (Damage shield 2 for the first unit) and Refined Void (Lifesteal 2) are very useful.

Melting: Not the greatest of tanks but has amazing coin generation. Stealth spells and unit are at their best with the tanks. Flicker's Liquor (Play a unit makes a card in your hand cost 0) will help play your expensive cards.

Last thoughts: I find this class to be really fun to play with the only real downside that it has some really "build around me" builds (Imps and armor) that are hard to pull off. You need a decent amount of imps or the Battering Ram respectively to really get them to work. So, unless your added cards are imps or you get Battering Ram, it's hard to go that way. It also a class that I will get the artifact first at the beginning of the game because they are really defining.

Remember that this is a card game that has a lot of variables so the card ratings are fluid. Some times you just need a card to shore up a weakness even if it is weaker than the other choices. I will try to do at least 1 guide a week: if you have questions or something you would like to see in the guide just let me know in the comments.