A Hero's Guide to Nightmist

Character Profile

• Best Attack: Amulet of the Elder Gods
• Best Team Support: Mistbound
• Best Personal Support: Starshield Necklace
• Primary Damage Type: Infernal
• Secondary Damage Type: None
• Nemesis: Gloomweaver
• Worst Card: Scouring Mists

The enigmatic Nightmist traffics in mystifying arcane arts that require great willpower.  So it is with playing her.  You have to be willing to take risks if you’re going to succeed with Nightmist.  She uses her hit points and hand size as resources more than any other hero.  Her cards are capable of absorbing, deflecting, or recovering a dizzying amount of damage.  Her utility spells are top-notch, making her a terrifying force for good… but at what cost?

Attack

Nightmist’s attack methods are far from straightforward.  We’ll start with the Amulet of the Elder Gods, the linchpin of her offensive line.  This card allows you to deflect the first attack that comes your way each turn, at the expense of your cards.  Turns out, this is fantastic.  If the attack is big, send it to something you want to hurt.  If the attack is small, save your cards and heal it later.  This combines with most of your spells to redirect damage that would normally affect you.  If you don’t play a self-damaging spell, it combines with Investigation to give you a damaging base power.  Often, it will be best to take small amounts of damage to stock up on cards, rather then deflect it all away, but the potential is something to keep in mind.

Once you understand that she inflicts damage primarily by redirecting it, Elder Ring comes into its own.  This boosts all of Nightmist’s damage, which is very useful IF she’s not hurting herself as much.  If you don’t need it anymore, the power is worth using.

Three spells belt out damage, based to some extent on the nature of the top cards of Nightmist’s deck.  These can be fantastic if you have access to the Amulet, but they are risky if you don’t.

Heedless Lash hits Nightmist and one target, and also lets you put into play the card you draw, if you want.  Sans Amulet, the 1:1 damage ratio is undesirable, but survivable.  With the Amulet, it’s very good.  The action economy is superb all the time.  I love this card.

If you have the Amulet, Scouring Mists can spread out more damage than Heedless Lash.  This spell is perhaps most vulnerable to the vagaries of chance, however.  Since the spellcasting number affects the number of targets, drawing a one is just sad if you were hoping to kill a bunch of stuff, and drawing a four is often overkill.    

Finally, Oblivion draws similarities to Haka’s Rampage, and is a terrifying, board-clearing double-attack, subject to the numbers you draw.  Make very sure your allies are ready for it.

Utility Casting

Mistbound can stop any deck from playing cards, which is great.  You’ll usually use it on the villain, but don’t forget you can Mistbind the environment deck, if the villain deck is already under control.  (Thanks to Visionary or Wraith, perhaps.)  The same benefits apply to Astral Premonition, though the discard cost on that one means you can’t use it every turn.

Enlightenment is straightforward enough – casting it on yourself gives you more fuel for your game, but you can usually find a hero that needs it more than you do.  This is best when you know the decks involved.  If you have to stop damage this turn, for instance, it helps to know Haka has a card called Ground Pound. 

Planar Banishment is nuts.  It is overkill if you’re going after one thing, but perfect for the (fairly frequent) times when there are two or three environments in play that you could really do without.  Zaps ongoings, too! 

Immortality

Nightmist is the best survivor in the game.  Her extensive recovery options can more than negate the damage she deals to herself.  The Amulet of the Elder Gods is as much a defensive option as it is a weapon, and that usually goes a long way towards keeping your hit points up. 

Starshield Necklace and Master of Magic knit your bones back together with little investment on your part, making them very good early plays.  I like the Necklace better because you get an immediate return on your investment, and you’ll have plenty to discard.  Master of Magic has the advantage of not having to pay anything else for it.  If you don’t get those early, then a late-game Mist-Fueled Recovery can restore you to excellent health from the edge of death.  If you have the Necklace, I find Mist-Fueled Recovery a little redundant, and it’s usually easier to discard them.

Nightmist’s defensive star is Mistform.  It’s like Visionary’s Cocoon, but with two distinct advantages.  First, Nightmist loves the extra card, making this a fine play for any turn she doesn’t have anything particularly relevant.  Second, if she had a Starshield Necklace already, she can heal while immune to damage. 

Tactics

My first rule of thumb is Always Investigate.  Nightmist needs cards badly, and her base power gives her so many.  In general, set aside your worry about the cost in hit points, and rake in the cards.  You have a lot of ways to mitigate the damage.  This is especially important early in the game to build up a hand of cards to abuse.  Mistbound and the Amulet require a ton of cards.  Nightmist can get them, and the best way to do it is to Investigate as much as possible.

The equation changes if damage is boosted.  (Thanks, Legacy.)  The damage becomes a potent missile if you are using the Amulet, though you lose the extra card benefit.  You might look towards your other power options.  Astral Premonition gives a strong ability, while Tome of Elder Magic can give you good cards without so much pain.

Mists of Time is a tricky card, with very conditional uses.  I've excelled with Nightmist for a long time without giving a thought to it at all.  Recent experimentation, however, has seen it be very effective at retrieving cards from a small trash pile.  Multiple copies of Mistbound, for instance, or some other card you want, can be retrieved very quickly with Investigation if you have the hit points to spare.  This can also be used for tricks like putting a full deck into your trash for Mist-Fueled Recovery.  I'm wary of the card because it means a turn with no board impact, but there is strength there.

Finally, Call Forth has two functions.  Of course, it’s a good way to get your relics, most importantly the Amulet and the Necklace.  If you pitch a 4 to it, however, it reads “Draw three cards.”  In other words, this is great for grabbing cards, as long as you haven’t already sucked all the relics out of your deck.  There are only nine of them - 3 Rings, and 2 each of Amulet, Necklace, and Tome.  You might to pay attention to which ones are still in your deck so you don’t look silly.

Weaknesses

At least Nightmist is upfront about her weaknesses.  It’s a constant struggle for her to get enough cards to do everything she wants to do.  She also makes a point of dealing a bunch of damage to herself.  If that goes unmitigated by her life-gaining cards or the Amulet, she quickly finds herself unable to act without killing herself.  If damage is boosted, she reaches the inability to act much quicker.

The good news is, because of her unfettered card drawing, she has swift access to most of the cards from her deck.  The Necklace or the Amulet are never very far away, and cards are swiftly recovered by Investigation.  It can sometimes feel circular, like you’re losing life to gain life, or discarding cards to draw cards.

If Nightmist can’t draw cards, she’s not entirely screwed.  Tome of Elder Magic, Call Forth, and Heedless Lash do a good job of pretending.  Make sure to Banish the impediment quickly, though.

Teamups

Nightmist offers fantastic aid to her team in the form of her utility spells.  In turn, Nightmist can use any healing or cards they can grant her.  She loves heroes that can reduce damage dealt to her, like Argent Adept, or make her immune to damage, like Legacy or Ra.  A problem with that is Legacy and Ra are also fond of increasing damage, and don’t always want to spend their time protecting the caster.  AA’s selective buffing, on the other hand, can be far better than Legacy’s group buffing if Nightmist is present.  At the same time, if Nightmist is ready to attack, buffing her to the hilt can be very effective - all of her attacks have the potential to be double attacks!

Nightmist on a team with the likes of Wraith, Tempest, or Visionary offers splendid control over the effects of the villain and environment deck.  Finally, Nightmist can get a lot of mileage out of hero cards that let you stack your deck.  Tempest’s Reclaim from the Deep or Argent Adept’s Inventive Preparation allow you to know what number is on top of your deck, and plan accordingly.

Playing Master of Magic is harder than playing Starshield Necklace, but if you're not trying to hang around in Mist Form or in danger of falling over dead right now I think the hit point recovery from MoM is a lot cheaper, since you get the hit points from doing what you'd like to do anyway. Not that I'm dissing hanging around in Mist Form with the Necklace. I used it to defeat 8 members of the Ennead after the rest of the team was knocked out. (With help from the Rook City Wraith and some Raptors).

I've used Mists of Time a few times. I think its big advantage over Enlightenment is that you know whether it's useful or not before you do it. Either you need to regain a ton of hit points with Mist-Fueled Recovery or you don't, and either you have a small discard pile with a large number of important permanents or you don't. Enlightenment can be very swingy. You can draw 4 cards for 4 damage, which is awesome, or 1 card for 1 damage, which is very poor indeed.

In terms of matchups, I think Nightmist is good against advanced Voss, because the early damage penalty really helps her out, and Oblivion is generally able to wipe out everyone played by a Forced Deployment. And Amulet of the Elder Gods can trump the Hired Gun very effectively.

When I play Master of Magic, it usually get zapped immediately.  *Shrug.*  Maybe that's why I prefer the Necklace; at least I get something for it.

Enlightenment's big benefit lies in using it on other players, though you're right that the number you draw is very relevant. 

I usually just seize on Mists of Time as a card marked for discarding, but it seems like a valid play in the situations mentioned.  It just takes longer to get results than I tend to prefer.

I suppose it depends on who you're facing and who your teammates are. I've had Master of Magic blow up straight away, and I've had it last all game.

If you don’t play a self-damaging spell, it combines with Investigation to give you a damaging base power – though sometimes you’ll need the cards more.

The card draw on Investigation isn't tied to the damage. With the Amulet, Investigation reads "cylce two cards and do 2 (or more) damage to a target of your choice". I don't think that was your intent here (pretty sure you meant "take the damage and stock up") but thought it should be clarified.

I edited the section to be hopefully more clear.

It may be worth noting that technically, Heedless Lash doesn't play cards, which means that the card played won't benefit from Master of Magic.

I'm bringing this guide up to date with my latest experiences.  Using Mists of Time (and a bit of help from the Argent Adept), Nightmist was able to keep the Matriarch Mistbound for 5 out of 7 turns.  It was really quite silly.  I've swapped Scouring Mists into the Worst spot, and edited some wording here and there.

I just wanted to post to totally agree with your assesment of Nightmist with regards to knowing the card on the top of your deck. First time I played her, I played with both AA and Tempest, and it felt really awesome to have control over very chaotic deck forces. I could plan things out brilliantly.

You mention the Elder Ring coming into its own, but I'm struggling to see it. Most Nightmist actions require her to deal herself damage. Adding one to that damage each time is really crippling. Sure, once per turn (and only with the first source each turn) she gets to choose whether to ditch cards to redirect damage... assuming she gets Amulet of the Elder Gods in play early on.

So assuming she didn't redirect a load of Villain damage at the start of the turn, she could redirect the damage from the One-Shot spell she plays. Then she uses Investigate and slams herself for three damage rather than 2 because she has the Elder Ring in play. And you'll be doing this pretty much every turn to keep the card draw going. 50% extra damage (2 damage becomes 3 damage) over the course of the game? I can't see how I ever want that card in play, even if it also adds to the damage I deal. Worse, it's a precious action I used to put the ring into play rather than something the Villain did to cripple me.

What am I missing? I accept I must be missing something.

I haven't played Nightmist much, but I think I may have noticed something you're missing:

Amulet of the Elder Gods allows you to redirect damage once a turn, not once a round.  If you have enough cards, you can redirect damage on the villain turn AND on your own turn as those are just part of the larger round.

Simply, the Elder Ring is a sometimes food.  It won't be useful every game, but it has the potential to multiply Nightmist's damage.  It will result in a few more points to Nightmist when it's played, but she also has a lot of methods to get that health back.  Using Heedless Lash now results in 2 more total damage, if you use the Amulet.  Oblivion deals three more damage to one target with the Amulet, and 2 more to all non-heroes.  (And one more to your allies... they can take it.)  If you can't stand Investigate with it in play, then switch to the Tome or Astral Premonition, but three damage for two cards is usually worth it anyway. 

It's the card she plays when she really wants to attack.  You might want her whole setup to justify it to yourself, or it might exact a huge hit point toll, but Nightmist can like damage boosts just as much or more than everybody else.  It's not everybody's style, either.  Nightmist is probably my wife's favorite character, and she never plays Elder Ring. 

Also, its important (in my eyes) to realize that Health means nothing unless its at 0. Given that you have no change in your effectiveness until your health hits 0, you can play fast and loose with it - if that extra damage to yourself results in more than enough damage between you and your teammates to end the game, then it was worth it. Play Nightmist and Fanatic and original AbZero enough and you start to see where you can just go all out and blow through your HP in order to get enough damage out there to win.

Right, but AllRoundGoodEgg said turn, not round. e.g. Plague Rat's Infections or Gloomweaver's Pins.

I have played Nightmist more than a few times and I'm always hesitant to put out the Elder Ring for exactly the reasons ARGE mentions, I'm not even sure it's worth playing it to use its power.

Had a game once where in order to do exactly enough damage to Apostate to kill him, had to put on the elder ring. I don't use it most of the time, but it can come in really handy every now and again.

This is true, however the example he used made it sound like he was, in fact, only "refreshing" the amulet's ability once per round (specifically, thinking that redirecting the villain's damage meant he couldn't redirect on Nightmist's turn). I was going to clarify that as well but was beaten to it.

It is certainly not worth playing just to use the power - you have Investigate for cards.  But, if you have been using the Elder Ring for a few turns and deem that it will no longer be useful (like you're out of attack cards, or too low on life), then using the power is a great play.

I almost always discard the Elder Ring before other cards (modulo the spell point value of the particular instance of the Elder Ring being good)

Like arenson9,  I tend to use the Elder Ring as discard fodder, but it becomes really useful if you have mostly Scouring Mists in your hand, want to be sure to rentabilize an Oblivion, or if the villain has damage reduction. The first example that comes to mind is Scouring Mists against Voss's minions.

When you can't find the Amulet, you don't need to investigate so much, and the Elder Ring becomes less dangerous to use, while making Nightmist a more effective damage dealer. It is not a must play card, but can be really handy in some situations - especially if you can heal.

This discussion is really interesting - thanks everyone. My example was a poor one about turns and rounds, but despite that its interesting to see the variety of views on the ring's useage. Situational cards aren't necessarily bad cards, and I can now see a few situations where the ring is going to be a useful play.

Like I say, thank you all for contributing to this.

Bit of information: The distribution iof NightMist's magic points is

1: 8

2: 11

3: 13

4: 8

I find the ring very useful.  +1 damage has more positive then negative effects (imho). I seem to play her more recklessly then most (as i do with AbZ), and taking a few extra points of damage a game is worth it because it is traded for substantially more damage to the enemy. Especially with her abundant ways to heal (and the incredible ease to get to them), and even has the ability to sit completely immune until she has a card like mist fueled recovery in hand to return to high health. I find that in most games im the one at the highest health despite keeping the ring in play the whole game after the first few turns. Now the card is not a sure play for all situations. If im in recovery mode or support mode you might not see it in front of me, but you can be sure to see it go down before or during damage dealing mode. Apparently she is bunker.....

As others have pointed out, your health means nothing until it as at 0, and i view it as yet another resource to aid me in defeating my enemies. 

Edit: flamethrower, i love your guides man. I usually look at them after trying a character for the first time (im still pretty new to the game) and this guide in particular really made nightmist click for me. Thank you

It's good to know they do what they're supposed to do.  Thanks, everybody!

I use Elder Ring quite regularly with Nightmist. Playing it at the right time is the key; only after the Amulet of the Elder Gods and one of Master of Magic or Starshield Amulet. At that point the extra damage to yourself doesn't matter (since you just heal it right back up every turn anyway), but the extra damage to everything else sure helps.

Normally I use the Tome of Elder Magic as discard fodder.

Like a lot of her tools, I find it depends. Tome of Elder Magic actually has helped me pretty signficantly a couple times when Nightmist has been under heavy fire and she only had Master of Magic out.

I have trouble remembering the details, but I recall a moment where it made more sense for the group if Nightmist stayed the highest health for at least a couple turns, she was sitting on a lot of damage boosts and her hand was mostly spells. Basically, between MoM and the Tome, she just turned into a one woman, self repairing spell turret. I think the Elder Ring even joined in. 

The more I play her, the more I think her complexity 3 is not from fiddly math but from all the constant judgment calls you have to make to sustain your current set up and/or the willingness you need to change your set up to suit the situation.

I like the tome with the promotional nightmist where its one card gain in your hand has even more significance since her power is to organize top of deck.

I like the Tome. I generally have nothing better to do with my power phase, so using it to get an extra card into my hand without causing HP damage is just fine by me.

My opinion on Tome of Elder Magic (and also Astral Premonition), is both of NightMist's base powers are too awesome. The only time I don't want/need to use Investigation is when I am at <10 HP without the amulet, necklace, or Master of Magic. The only time I don't want/need to use Attunement is when I will be spending the next couple of turns playing a card that doesn't rely on spell numbers. Her non-base powers really don't see a lot of use whenever I play her, since the times I want to avoid them are very limited.

I often play Elder Ring aswell. I'm someone who doesn't care about how much damage I am taking, as long as my HP is not at 0, though some people can say that there are often times that being at 0 isn't really an issue for me either. Though it's mostly a card I play when I lack anything better to play.

Tome of Elder Magic (Spell Number 4) is one of my favorite cards in her deck.  It consistently grants me 4 HP (Starshield Necklace), or deals 4 damage to one/all (non-hero) target(s) (Heedless Lash, Oblivion, redirecting damage with the Amulet of the Elder Gods when it is flipped for [Spell number] self-damage)!

I love the 4s… Especially that one since I don't miss it when it gets used in a spell.

Exactly!  Nightmist has a deck where you're hard-pressed to find a card that isn't appreciated.  If you're not going to play a card, then you can discard it to fuel other effects or utilize its spell number for her magic!

Yeah, Nightmist is pretty much a badass. That's why she's one of my favorites.

A question came up in a game with Nightmist tonight.  If Nightmist is "immune to damage" with Mistform, can she still redirect damage that "would be dealt" to her with the Amulet of the Elder Gods?  I'm inclined to think she can, since the damage is still being "assigned" to her, even though it wouldn't affect her if she did nothing.  But from reading this guide and a few game reports and such, it looks as if everyone just assumes it can't be done, not even if this is your only method of dealing damage that seriously needs to be dealt.

No, she can't. The reason is that you can only redirect damage. Damge = loss of hp. If there was no loss of hp, there was no damage, and there is nothing to redirect.

Because…?

EDIT - Oh, that's why.

The offical ruling was that you have to be able to take the damage to redirect it.

So if Stealth Bot was in play and Ra had Flesh of the sun God in play (no power used) and was about to get hit by the volcano you could not redirect the damage to Stealth Bot.

Yeah, it makes sense with Pydro's explanation.  Yours on the other hand just makes me wonder why you want to kill Stealth Bot.  What did she ever do to you?  Plus you're depriving Ra of a relaxing lava bath!  You fiend!

This really helps me understand her more thank you.

It's worth noting that Visionary's Twist the Ether is especially good for Nightmist. If Ra's willing to use Flesh of the Sun God and is turning all damage to fire damage, she can also go to town, particularly with Oblivion. 

Because of the "turn vs. round" distinction, Amulet of the Elder Gods makes a great combo with any hero that has an attack that damages multiple targets,  (Wraith's Throwing Knives, Expat's Assault Rifle, Fixer's Dual Crowbars, AZ's Thermal Shockwave, Tempest's Localized Hurricane, etc.).  If you have a target that you want to hit twice, direct your first attack at the target.  Aim your next attack at Nightmist, and have her redirect it with the Amulet (because it's your "turn," so it's the first damage she is facing that "turn") at the same target you just hit.  Congrats; you just did double the damage.  

Jack Handle wouldn't work for this as it will cause Mr Fixer to hit only non hero targets.  This is something I've done with similar items like Driving Mantis or Total Beefcake. 

Oops!  Edited. :)

Nightmist can also use effects that make her unable to deal damage, especially early in the game. It's often not her choice when to get them, but it does help keep her from being as SOL as some other heroes (besides AA and Legacy) might be. 

I've run into that for sure.   It can be a blessing and a curse not being able to deal damage.    A blessing because her main power and spells like Enlightenment or Planar Banishment have no downside.   A curse because if she was holding onto that big Oblivion or wanted to redirect damage she is thrwarted.  

That's very true. The first time I ran into it I was quite pleased with the utility I was able to use it to my advantage, which is almost never the case with this kind of debuff. Giving 3 extra cards to Unity and drawing two more without taking any damage that turn was a nice change of pace.