History YMMV / GemsOfWar

** The Dwarven Gate is fairly common and can make PvP hell. Its spell gives Barrier (mentioned above) to all its allies, increases its own Armor, and ''gives mana to its allies'', enabling them to dump their powerful spells faster and hampering your ability to mana-screw them. Its one [[AttackItsWeakPoint weak point]] is that, because it doesn't Barrier itself, it will inevitably get whittled down... though expect that to take a while because it also has a Trait that reduces all incoming Skull damage by 50%. It also has [[StoneWall no Attack value]], which will slow down your opponent's offense until and/or unless buffed via allied spells, allied Traits, Kingdom bonuses or even {{Set Bonus}}es.

** Summoners. Their defensive kit and MookMaker abilities make them the ultimate MeatShield. His spell summons a [[EliteMooks Bone Daemon]] -- which drags on the game by making you have to kill one more troop to win -- ''and'' heals his allies. Bone Daemons in turn have an ability that deals damage, increases the drop-rate of attack gems (a double-edged sword, to be sure), and ''deals double damage while this buff is in play''. The buff only lasts 8 turns, 4 of which are yours, so the Bone Daemon has a limited time to cast their ability again, but that one hit can be decisive. Lastly, the summoner has the trait "Orc Armour", a GameBreaker on its own which reads "Gain 5 armour when I take damage to Life". That's not a one-off. It happens ''every time he takes damage'' and costs ''nothing'' to use in battle (once unlocked). Oh, and it's last trait gives it a random chance to summon ''yet another dude''. All of this combined gets you an absurdly tanky character who makes their own team beefier ''and'' more populous.

** Almost any character whose spell reads "Explode X random Gems". This ability selects X random Gems and explodes them... which counts as ''matching them'', even if only at 70% efficiency. In practice, these spells say, "Add a ''lot'' of mana to every Troop on my team, often enough to charge them completely." If the spell has ''other'' effects besides that... Well!

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: {{Enforced}}. Troops can have their "rarity" increased by combining multiple copies of them together, but they can only gain levels by feeding them Souls. The problem is that, on average, you only gain 4 souls per battle, whereas you need thousands to get a Troop card to its maximum of Lv.20. In the end, even if you get a cool new card that you want to experiment with, you can't, because it's still Lv.1 and will get ripped to shreds by just about anything you face in [=PvP=] ''or'' campaign. (This is especially true because you will probably want to build a new party around it, and those other cards may or may not be leveled up either.) Once you start investing in a team, it's going to take quite a while until you can start a second one.
** However, earlier levels are cheaper than later levels. Also, there are other ways to gain larger quantities of souls[[note]] I've never been ''starved'' for souls, merely been given the motivation to keep grinding.[[/note]]:
*** [=PvP=] [[note]] awards bonus Souls from going up ranks which are reset weekly and can be obtained reasonably easily[[/note]]
*** The Treasure Hunting "minigame" [[note]] a modification of the standard gem-matching puzzle, with plays awarded via maps gained from gameplay (at random/from large matches), Guild Tasks, or purchase (with Glory)[[/note]]
*** Guild Tasks [[note]] which are completed via simple donation/contribution of Gold, and can award significant quantities of souls, Keys, or Treasure maps, depending which type is completed. Rewards are also shared with your guildmates, so you can get significant rewards via this method simply by being a guild member, and/or return the favour when you have Gold to spare.[[/note]]
*** Disenchanting Troop Cards [[note]] Any Troop card can be Disenchanted for Souls - at a minimum of 5 Souls at Common rarity. As such, Gold (and Glory) can essentially be "converted" into Souls via buying chests and disenchanting the results - or just outright ''getting'' souls in a chest, which also happens - and Keys also indirectly give you Souls for the same reasons. [[/note]]
*** Troop abilities [[note]] There are some Troop abilities that give bonus Souls in battle (and are still combat-effective), such as Banshee's, which ''straight-up gives you bonus Souls on use'' while dealing damage and changing the board, or Necromancer's trait, which increases your final soul total by 50%. A farming team based around supporting - or even just incorporating - such Troops should still be combat-viable.[[/note]]
** Finally, Souls are interchangeable no matter what team you're using, so you can use a levelled-up team to farm Souls for your next desired team layout.
** Furthermore, PvP offers you a choice of 3 opponents, from left to right - easy, moderate, overwhelming. I'd say most players should be able to beat their leftmost opponent fairly consistently, given the advantage(s) of human intelligence vs. ArtificialStupidity.

** Another potent team, and at much lower rarities, is the Rare [[http://gowdb.com/troops/6504 Clockwork Sphinx]], which boosts the team's Armor; [[http://gowdb.com/weapons/1075 Golden Cog]], a Hero weapon which ''doubles'' a Troop's Armor; and the Forest Of Thorns QuestGiver [[http://gowdb.com/troops/6087 Rowanne]], who deals damage, split amongst the enemy team, equal to ''twice her Armor''. This trio can easily handle teams which (on paper) are 50% stronger than them, and leaves an empty slot on your team for the Troop Of The Week and whatever bonuses it provides.

** Ranger is by no means unbeatable, but can be pretty damn scary, especially with a team setting him up. His ability deals a strong initial hit to a single target, and ''then'' deals damage randomly spread across the entire enemy team, ''boosted by remaining enemy troops''. This little bastard can focus down priority targets ''and'' deal significant [=AoE=] damage to the entire enemy team ''at the same time''. With the right Banner, he can also get his ability charged in as little as ''two matches'', and if you add a helpful ally to provide the right gems on the board. The reason he goes here instead of "Game Breaker" is that his [=AoE=] damage does not scale well; he's also relatively easy to OneHitKill in return.

** Summoners. Their defensive kit and MookMaker abilities make them the ultimate MeatShields. His spell summons a [[EliteMooks Bone Daemon]] -- which drags on the game by making you have to kill one more troop to win -- ''and'' heals his allies. Bone Daemons in turn have an ability that deals damage, increases the drop-rate of attack gems (a double-edged sword, to be sure), and ''deals double damage while this buff is in play''. The buff only lasts 8 turns, 4 of which are yours, so the Bone Daemon has a limited time to cast their ability again, but that one hit can be decisive. Lastly, the summoner has the trait "Orc Armour", a GameBreaker on its own which reads "Gain 5 armour when I take damage to Life". That's not a one-off. It happens ''every time he takes damage'' and costs ''nothing'' to use in battle (once unlocked). Oh, and it's last trait gives it a random chance to summon ''yet another dude''. All of this combined gets you an absurdly tanky character who makes their own team beefier ''and'' more populous.

** Ranger actually more accurately goes into this category, on further reflection. While everything previously written below is still true, his secondary ability does not in fact scale so well with levels - against very low-level enemies it can easily score multi-kills, and against moderately levelled ones, it can still deal significant damage, but as only the damage of his initial hit increases with his magic level, his multi-target damage becomes less significant as enemy level increases.

** Princess Fizzbang set a new record for snowballing. Her ability "Explodes"[[note]]destroys that gem, and all 8 gems around it, but only at 70% mana gain[[/note]] all Green Gems on the board. It also increases a random skill on a random ally (she can be targeted) by [Magic + 1]. This can include her own Magic, making the increase to other stats even more dramatic when they happen. ''And'' she gains an extra turn... which, more often than not, she can use to cast the spell again, because Exploding all green gems has a decent chance of refilling her mana. And she can [[CherryTapping Cherry-Tap]] the enemy while she does, because exploded Skulls do damage. Released on Monday, 4 Sept 2017, she was nerfed on Thursday the 7th so that she guarantees the extra turn but randomly chooses between Exploding all Green and the random buff.
** Ranger is by no means unbeatable, but can be pretty damn scary, especially with a team setting him up. His now-buffed ability deals a strong initial hit to a single target when levelled up, but the second ability is powerful irrespective of levels - damage randomly spread across the ''entire'' enemy team, ''boosted by remaining enemy troops''. This little bastard can focus down priority targets ''and'' deal significant [=AoE=] damage to the entire enemy team ''at the same time''. 2-3 shots basically win the game, since even if the boost decreases (from ''killing enemy troops''), the rest are already wounded by then. Scary enough as a one-off to prevent, but with the right Banner, he can get his ability charged in as little as ''two matches'', and if you add a helpful ally to provide the right gems on the board... well, that's how he earns his place here.

** Ranger is by no means unbeatable, but can be pretty damn scary, especially with a team setting him up. His now-buffed ability deals a strong initial hit to a single target when levelled up, but the second ability is powerful irrespective of levels - damage randomly spread across the ''entire'' enemy team, ''boosted by remaining enemy troops''. This little bastard can focus down priority targets ''and'' deal ''significant'' [=AoE=] damage to the ''entire'' enemy team ''at the same time''. 2-3 shots basically win the game, since even if the boost decreases (from ''killing enemy troops''), the rest are already wounded by then. Scary enough as a one-off to prevent, but with the right Banner, he can get his ability charged in as little as ''two matches'', and if you add a helpful ally to provide the right gems on the board... well, that's how he earns his place here.

** The Dwarven Gate is fairly common and can make PvP hell. Its spell gives Barrier (mentioned above) to all its allies, increases its own Armor, and ''gives mana to its allies'', enabling them to dump their powerful spells faster and hampering your ability to mana-screw them. Its one [[AttackItsWeakPoint weak point]] is that, because it doesn't Barrier itself, it will inevitably get whittled down... though expect that to take a while because it also has a Trait that reduces all incoming Skull damage by 50%. It also has no Attack value, though that can be altered using allied spells, allied Traits, Kingdom bonuses or even {{Set Bonus}}es.

** The Dwarven Gate is fairly common and can make PvP hell. Its spell gives Barrier (mentioned above) to all its allies, increases its own Armor, and ''gives mana to its allies'', enabling them to dump their powerful spells faster and hampering your ability to mana-screw them. Its one [[AttackItsWeakPoint weak point]] is that, because it doesn't Barrier itself, it will inevitably get whittled down... though expect that to take a while because it also has a Trait that reduces all incoming Skull damage by 50%. It also has no Attack value, though that can be altered using allied spells, allied Traits or even {{Set Bonus}}es.

** Pretty much anything which has an ability that gives [[SingleUseShield Barrier]], or to a lesser extent which gives or restores or drains Armour or [[HitPoints Health]]. Depending on the situation, level difference, and team composition, it can be just delaying the inevitable, but it still needlessly drags out the fight, especially since Barriers negate ''the whole next attack'', irrespective of level. Most troops give Barrier through their spells... but there's one Mythic-Rare troop, Jotnar Stormshield, who gives it to a random ally ''every time you make a 4+ match''. Since it's quite a lot easier to make 4+ matches than it is to charge up an ally's HerdHittingAttack (especially if Jotnar is surrounded by people who generate large numbers of gems of the same color), he can make his team essentially invincible.
** The Dwarven Gate is fairly common and can make PvP hell. Its spell gives Barrier (mentioned above) to all its allies, increases its own Armor, and ''gives mana to its allies'', enabling them to dump their powerful spells faster and hampering your ability to mana-screw them. Its one [[AttackItsWeakPoint weak point]] is that, because it doesn't Barrier itself, it will inevitably get whittled down... though expect that to take a while because it also has a Trait that reduces all incoming Skull damage by 50%. It also has no Attack value, though that can be altered using allied spells, Traits or even {{Set Bonus}}es.

** Princess Fizzbang set a new record for snowballing. Her ability "Explodes"[[note]]Matches that gem, and all 8 gems around it, but only at 70% mana gain[[/note]] all Green Gems on the board. It also increases a random skill on a random ally (she can be targeted) by [Magic + 1]. This can include her own Magic, making the increase to other stats even more dramatic when they happen. ''And'' she gains an extra turn... which, more often than not, she can use to cast the spell again, because Exploding all green gems has a decent chance refilling her mana. And she can [[CherryTapping Cherry-Tap]] the enemy while she does, because exploded Skulls do damage. Released on Monday, 4 Sept 2017, she was nerfed on Thursday the 7th so that she guarantees the extra turn but randomly chooses between Exploding all Green and the random buff.

** Summoners. Their defensive kit and MookMaker abilities make them the ultimate MeatShields. His spell summons a [[EliteMooks Bone Daemon]] -- which drags on the game by making you have to kill one more troop to win -- ''and'' heals his allies. Bone Daemons in turn have an ability that deals damage, increases the drop-rate of attack gems (a double-edged sword, to be sure), and ''deals double damage while this buff is in play''. The buff only lasts 8 turns, 4 of which are yours, so the Bone Daemon has a limited time to cast their ability again, but that one hit can be decisive. Lastly, the summoner has the trait "Orc Armour", a GameBreaker on its own which reads "Gain 5 armour when I take damage to Life". That's not a one-off. It happens ''every time he takes damage'' and costs ''nothing'' to use in battle (though the owner has to have enough Traitstones to activate the ability). Oh, and it's last trait gives it a random chance to summon ''yet another dude''. All of this combined gets you an absurdly tanky character who makes their own team beefier ''and'' more populous.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: {{Enforced}}. Troops can have their "rarity" increased by combining multiple copies of them together, but they can only gain levels by feeding them Souls. The problem is that, on average, you only gain 4 souls per battle, whereas you need thousands to get a Troop card to its maximum of Lv.20. In the end, even if you get a cool new card that you want to experiment with, you can't, because it's still Lv.1 and will get ripped to shreds by just about anything you face in [=PvP=] ''or'' campaign. (This is especially true because you will probably want to build a new party around it, and those other cards may or may not be leveled up either.) Once you start investing in a team, you basically cannot use anything else.

** Princess Fizzbang set a new record for snowballing. Her ability "Explodes" all Green Gems on the board (which means you get mana from the eight gems surrounding them). It also increases a random skill on a random ally (she can be targeted) by [Magic + 1]. This can include her own Magic, making the increase to other stats even more dramatic when they happen. ''And'' she gains an extra turn... which, more often than not, she can use to cast the spell again, because Exploding all green gems has a decent chance of catching the 18 Blue & Purple Gems she needs to refill her mana. And she can [[CherryTapping Cherry-Tap]] the enemy while she does, because exploded Skulls do damage. Released on Monday, 4 Sept 2017, she was nerfed on Thursday the 7th so that she guarantees the extra turn but randomly chooses between Exploding all Green and the random buff.

** ''Summoners''. Blurring the line between this trope and DemonicSpiders, they rarely kill you outright due to their defensively focussed ability and kit, but they can easily drag out the game long enough to win through attrition, or cover for something far more offensively dangerous, and their summons are ''also'' quite dangerous offensively, while he helps to counteract the double-edged nature of his summons' ability. His ability firstly [[MookMaker summons]] a [[EliteMooks Bone Daemon]], which is itself not only an extra face to beat in, but has quite a powerful offensive ability. But that's not the only problem - his ability ''also'' increases ''all his allies''' health by a not-insignificant amount. Worst case scenario, he's not only filled the ''only'' empty slot on the enemy team with a powerful Bone Daemon, he's ''also'' added ''another'' troop's worth of HP to his allies in total. Bone Daemons in turn have an ability that deals an averagely powerful attack, but also ''increases the drop-rate of attack blocks'', and ''deals double damage while this buff is in play''. Let them live too long, and... you're in trouble, while as previously noted, the Summoner's healing and summoning help make up for the extra hits taken, and that's assuming ''you'' get the attack gems.
*** But what ''really'' makes [[ThisTroper their opponent]] ''scream'' in frustration is the trait "Orc Armour", a GameBreaker on its own which reads "Gain 5 armour when I take damage to Life". ''That's not a one-off. It happens every time at no added cost.'' And at low levels, it ''nearly completely negates the next attack they receive'', and ''triggers again'' the next time their health is so much as ''scratched''.
*** Put all this together, and you get: They're ridiculously tanky. They make the rest of their ''team'' tanky. And they ''summon additional faces'' that ''also'' have to be killed (and can be tanked up by them). Oh yeah, and as if they needed ''another'' [[ClassicVideoGameScrewYous middle finger]]? Their fortunately-rarely-seen final trait gives them ''another'' chance to summon on death. Fortunately, this summon isn't as dangerous in any way, but it's no pushover. And again, ''another'' face to kill.

** Pretty much anything which has an ability that gives [[SingleUseShield Barrier]], or to a lesser extent which gives or restores or drains Armour or [[HitPoints Health]]. Depending on the situation, level difference, and team composition, it can be just delaying the inevitable, but it still needlessly drags out the fight, especially since Barriers negate ''the whole next attack'', irrespective of level.
*** Fortunately, there are no (known) traits [[note]]traits are passive abilities that have no cost to activate in battle once unlocked [[/note]] that give Barrier, only activated abilities. A trait like Orc Armour that gave Barrier would be beyond infuriating.

** However, earlier levels are cheaper than later levels. Also, there are other ways to gain larger quantities of souls[[note]]I've never been ''starved'' for souls, merely been given the motivation to keep grinding.[[/note]]:
*** [=PvP=] awards bonus Souls [[note]]from going up ranks which are reset weekly and can be obtained reasonably easily[[/note]]
*** The Treasure Hunting "minigame" [[note]]a modification of the standard gem-matching puzzle, with plays awarded via maps gained from gameplay or Guild Tasks, or purchased for Glory[[/note]]
*** Guild Tasks [[note]]which are completed via simple donation/contribution of Gold, and can award significant quantities of souls, Keys, or Treasure maps, depending which type is completed. Rewards are also shared with your guildmates, so you can get significant rewards via this method simply by being a guild member, and/or return the favour when you have Gold to spare.[[/note]]
*** Any Troop card can be Disenchanted for Souls [[note]]a minimum of 5 souls at Common rarity[[/note]]. As such, Gold (and Glory) can essentially be "converted" into Souls via buying chests and disenchanting the results, [[note]]or just outright ''getting'' souls in a chest, which also happens [[/note]]and Keys also indirectly give you Souls for the same reasons.
*** There are some Troop abilities that give bonus Souls in battle (and are still combat-effective)[[note]]such as Banshee's, which ''straight-up gives you bonus Souls on use'' while dealing damage and changing the board, or Necromancer's trait, which increases your final soul total by 50%[[/note]]. A farming team based around supporting - or even just incorporating - such Troops should still be combat-viable.
*** Finally, Souls are interchangeable no matter what team you're using, so you can use a levelled-up team to farm Souls for your next team.

** However, earlier levels are cheaper than later levels. Also, there are other ways to gain larger quantities of souls - quests and [=PvP=] both award bonus Souls (PvP from going up ranks, quests from completion), Treasure Hunting and Guild Tasks award significant quantities of souls, and any card can be Disenchanted (for a minimum of 5 souls at common), so Gold can essentially be "converted" into Souls either via Guild Tasks (which also gives your Guildmates the souls) or buying chests and disenchanting the results (or just outright ''getting'' souls in a chest, which also happens) and Keys also indirectly give you Souls if you disenchant the cards. Finally, Souls are the same no matter what team you're using, so you can use a levelled-up team to farm for your next team - and that's not even getting into abilities like Banshee's, which ''straight-up give you bonus Souls on use''. I've never been ''starved'' for souls, merely been given the motivation to keep grinding.

** Ranger actually more accurately goes into this category, on further reflection. While everything previously written is still true, his secondary ability does not in fact scale so well with levels - against very low-level enemies it can easily score multi-kills, and against moderately levelled ones, it can still deal significant damage, but as only the damage of his initial hit increases with his magic level, his secondary multi-target damage becomes less significant as enemy level increases.
*** Ranger is by no means unbeatable, but can be pretty damn scary, especially with a team setting him up. His now-buffed ability deals a strong initial hit when levelled up, but the second ability is powerful irrespective of levels - damage randomly dealt to the enemy team ''boosted by enemy troops''. This little bastard can focus down priority targets ''and'' deal ''significant'' [=AoE=] damage to the ''entire'' enemy team ''at the same time''. 2-3 shots basically win the game, since even if the boost decreases (from ''killing your troops''), you're already wounded by then. Scary enough as a one-off to prevent, but with the right Banner, he can get his ability charged in as little as ''two matches'', and if you add a helpful ally to provide the right gems on the board... well, that's how he earns his place here.

** Princess Fizzbang set a new record for snowballing. Her ability "Explodes" all Green Gems on the board (which means you get mana from the eight gems surrounding them, but only 70% of that mana). It also increases a random skill on a random ally (she can be targeted) by [Magic + 1]. This can include her own Magic, making the increase to other stats even more dramatic when they happen. ''And'' she gains an extra turn... which, more often than not, she can use to cast the spell again, because Exploding all green gems has a decent chance of catching the 18 Blue & Purple Gems (at 70% conversion) she needs to refill her mana. And she can [[CherryTapping Cherry-Tap]] the enemy while she does, because exploded Skulls do damage. Released on Monday, 4 Sept 2017, she was nerfed on Thursday the 7th so that she guarantees the extra turn but randomly chooses between Exploding all Green and the random buff.

** Pretty much anything which gives [[SingleUseShield Barrier]], or to a lesser extent anything which gives or restores or drains Armour or [[HitPoints Health]]. Depending on the situation, level difference, and team composition, it can be just delaying the inevitable, but it still needlessly drags out the fight, especially since Barriers negate ''the whole next attack'', irrespective of level.
** Orc Armour. Just... the aforementioned Orc Armour trait. ''[[[ClusterFBomb String-of-expletives]]] Orc Armour.''

** Ranger is by no means unbeatable, but can be pretty damn scary, especially with a team setting him up. His now-buffed ability deals a strong initial hit when levelled up, but the second ability is powerful irrespective of levels - damage randomly dealt to the enemy team ''boosted by enemy troops''. This little bastard can focus down priority targets ''and'' deal ''significant'' [=AoE=] damage to the ''entire'' enemy team ''at the same time''. 2-3 shots basically win the game, since even if the boost decreases (from ''killing your troops''), you're already wounded by then. Scary enough as a one-off to prevent, but with the right Banner, he can get his ability charged in as little as ''two matches'', and if you add a helpful ally to provide the right gems on the board... well, that's how he earns his place here.

** ''Summoners''. Blurring the line between this trope and DemonicSpiders, they rarely kill you outright due to their defensively focussed ability and kit, but they can easily drag out the game long enough to win through attrition, or cover for something far more offensively dangerous, and their summons are ''also'' quite dangerous offensively, while he helps to counteract the double-edged nature of his summons' ability. His ability firstly [[MookMaker summons]] a [[EliteMooks Bone Daemon]], which is itself not only an extra face to beat in, but has quite a powerful offensive ability. But that's not the only problem - his ability ''also'' increases ''all his allies''' health by a not-insignificant amount. Worst case scenario, he's not only filled the ''only'' empty slot on the enemy team with a powerful Bone Daemon, he's ''also'' added ''another'' troop's worth of HP to his allies in total. Bone Daemons in turn have an ability that deals an averagely powerful attack, but also ''increases the drop-rate of attack blocks'', and ''deals double damage while this buff is in play''. Let them live too long, and... you're in trouble, while as previously noted, the Summoner's healing and summoning help make up for the extra hits taken, and that's assuming ''you'' get the attack gems. But what ''really'' makes [[ThisTroper their opponent]] ''scream'' in frustration is the trait "Orc Armour", a GameBreaker on its own which reads "Gain 5 armour when I take damage to Life". ''That's not a one-off. It happens every time at no added cost.'' And at low levels, it ''nearly completely negates the next attack they receive'', and ''triggers again'' the next time their health is so much as ''scratched''.

** Dryads. Another slightly less irritating defensive unit, they give an ally Barrier ''and'' bonus life, with a slight heal on top of that if the target's damaged. So basically, at equal levels, they negate the next ''two'' attacks aimed at their target - one through the Barrier, one through just plain soaking it up. Oh yeah, and they create Green Gems, thus setting up their Green allies at no additional cost every time they use the above ability. Not a direct [[ClassicVideoGameScrewYous middle finger]], but it still makes the ability do ''three things at once,'' and slightly disadvantages you if you'd prefer [[PlayingWithFire other]] [[MakingASplash colours]] [[DishingOutDirt on]] [[BlowYouAway the]] [[BlackMagic board]].

** ''Summoners''. Blurring the line between this trope and DemonicSpiders, they rarely kill you outright due to their defensively focussed ability and kit, but they can easily drag out the game long enough to win through attrition, or cover for something far more offensively dangerous, and their summons are ''also'' quite dangerous offensively, while he helps to counteract the double-edged nature of his summons' ability. His ability firstly [[MookMaker summons]] a [[EliteMooks Bone Daemon]], which is itself not only an extra face to beat in, but has quite a powerful offensive ability. But that's not the only problem - his ability ''also'' increases ''all his allies''' health by a not-insignificant amount. Worst case scenario, he's not only filled the ''only'' empty slot on the enemy team with a powerful Bone Daemon, he's ''also'' added ''another'' troop's worth of HP to his allies in total. Bone Daemons in turn have an ability that deals an averagely powerful attack, but also ''increases the drop-rate of attack blocks'', and ''deals double damage while this buff is in play''. Let them live too long, and... you're in trouble, while as previously noted, the Summoner's healing and summoning help make up for the extra hits taken, and that's assuming ''you'' can't get the attack gems. But what ''really'' makes [[ThisTroper their opponent]] ''scream'' in frustration is the trait "Orc Armour", a GameBreaker on its own which reads "Gain 5 armour when I take damage to Life". ''That's not a one-off. It happens every time at no added cost.'' And at low levels, it ''nearly completely negates the next attack they receive'', and ''triggers again'' the next time their health is so much as ''scratched''.

** Dryads. Another slightly less irritating defensive unit, they give an ally Barrier ''and'' bonus life, with a slight heal on top of that if the target's damaged. So basically, at equal levels, they negate the next ''two'' attacks aimed at their target - one through the Barrier, one through just plain soaking it up. Oh yeah, and they create Green Gems, thus setting up their Green allies at no additional cost. Not a direct [[ClassicVideoGameScrewYous middle finger]], but it still makes the ability do ''three things at once,'' and slightly disadvantages you if you'd prefer [[PlayingWithFire other]] [[MakingASplash colours]] [[DishingOutDirt on]] [[BlowYouAway the]] [[BlackMagic board]].

** Ranger is by no means unbeatable, but can be pretty damn scary, especially with a team setting him up. His now-buffed ability deals a strong initial hit when levelled up, but the second ability is powerful irrespective of levels - damage randomly dealt to the enemy team ''boosted by enemy troops''. This little bastard can focus down priority targets ''and'' deal ''significant'' [=AoE=] damage to the ''entire'' enemy team ''at the same time''. 2-3 shots basically win the game, since even if the boost decreases (from ''killing your troops''), you're already wounded by then. Scary enough as a one-off to prevent, but with the right Banner, he can get his ability charged in as little as ''two matches'', and if you add a helpful ally to provide the right gems on the board... well, that's how he earns his place here.

** However, earlier levels are cheaper than later levels. Also, there are other ways to gain larger quantities of souls - quests and [=PvP=] both award bonus Souls (PvP from going up ranks, quests from completion) Treasure Hunting and Guild Tasks award significant quantities of souls, and any card can be Disenchanted (for a minimum of 5 souls at common), so Gold can essentially be "converted" into Souls either via Guild Tasks (which also gives your Guildmates the souls) or buying chests and disenchanting the results (or just outright ''getting'' souls in a chest, which also happens) and Keys also indirectly give you Souls if you disenchant the cards. Finally, Souls are the same no matter what team you're using, so you can use a levelled-up team to farm for your next team - and that's not even getting into abilities like Banshee's, which ''straight-up give you bonus Souls on use''. I've never been ''starved'' for souls, merely been given the motivation to keep grinding.
** Furthermore, [=PvP=] usually offers you a choice of 3 opponents, from left to right - easy, moderate, overwhelming. I'd say most players should be able to beat their leftmost opponent fairly consistently, given the advantage(s) of human intelligence vs. ArtificialStupidity.

** Princess Fizzbang set a new record for snowballing. Her ability "Explodes" all Green Gems on the board (which means you get mana from the eight gems surrounding them, but only 70% of that mana). It also increases a random skill on a random ally (she can be targeted) by [Magic + 1]. This can include her own Magic, making the increase to other stats even more dramatic when they happen. ''And'' she gains an extra turn... which, more often than not, she can use to cast the spell again, because Exploding all green gems has a decent chance of catching the 18 Blue & Purple Gems (at 70% conversion) she needs to refill her mana. And she can [[CherryTapping Cherry-Tap]] the enemy while she does, because exploded Skulls do damage. Released on Monday, 4 Sept 2017, she was nerfed on Thursday the 7th so that she guarantees the extra turn but randomly chooses between Exploding all Green and the random buff.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: {{enforced}}. Troops can have their "rarity" increased by combining multiple copies of them together, but they can only gain levels by feeding them Souls. The problem is that, on average, you only gain 4 souls per battle, whereas you need thousands to get a Troop card to its maximum of Lv.20. In the end, even if you get a cool new card that you want to experiment with, you can't, because it's still Lv.1 and will get ripped to shreds by just about anything you face in [=PvP=] ''or'' campaign. (This is especially true because you will probably want to build a new party around it, and those other cards may or may not be leveled up either.) Once you start investing in a team, you basically cannot use anything else.

** Princess Fizzbang sets a new record for snowballing. Her ability "Explodes" all Green Gems on the board (which means you get mana from the eight gems surrounding them, but only 70% of that mana). It also increases a random skill on a random ally (she can be targeted) by [Magic + 1]. This can include her own Magic, making the increase to her other stats even more dramatic when they happen. Finally, she gains an extra turn... which, more often than not, she can use to cast the spell again, because Exploding all green gems has a decent chance of catching the 18 Blue & Purple Gems she needs to refill her mana.
** And finally, just about anything Ultra-Rare can swing things in your favor. The good news is, completing each Campaign world automatically grants you the NPC who has been walking around with you, so it's not hard to get your hands on good troops. (Of course, you still have to level them up afterwards.)

The YMMV for the MatchThree puzzle game ''Gems of War''.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: {{enforced}}. Troops can have their "rarity" increased by combining multiple copies of them together, but they can only gain levels by feeding them Souls. The problem is that it can be ''very'' difficult to get Souls; even if you get a cool new card that you want to experiment with, you can't, because it's still Lv.1 (of a maximum of 20) and will get ripped to shreds by just about anything you face in [=PvP=] ''or'' campaign. (This is especially true because you will probably want to build a new party around it, and those other cards may or may not be leveled up either.) Once you've settled on a team that works, you basically cannot use anything else.
* GameBreaker: There are actually a lot of cards that, if properly powered up, can dominate battles, even down to very basic cards like the [[http://gems-of-war.wikia.com/wiki/Goblin Goblin]]. But a few stand out:
** Grave Knight: 11 Purple/Brown -- Shattering Blow, "Destroy an enemy's Armor, and deal [4+Magic] Damage." It happens in that order. This means the Grave Knight can OneHitKill anything with 4 Health or less -- such as itself, since it does not start with greater-than-4 health until it's Lv.8.
** Spider Queen: 9 Green/Purple -- Web, "Reduce an enemy's Armor by [1+Magic], Web them and drain their Mana." The first bit isn't all that useful, since it won't actually do Health damage, and the second just prevents them from attacking. The third? Instant AntiMagic. Opponent has built up a spell that will mess you up? Sorry, your Mana stockpile just got reduced to zero! (Whether or not ''you'' actually gain the drained mana is, frankly, irrelevant next to the ability to counterspell ''anything''.)
** Paladin: 11 Yellow/Green -- Justice, "Deal [0+Magic] damage to an enemy, Boosted by my Armor." Adding Armor to your characters is not that hard; there are actually a lot of characters that do so. This guy can get out of control ''real'' fast, especially if you stick him and his armor-augmenting buddy at the end of your lineup where it's hard to damage them.