Boltyn is a knight, always ready to give his all to defend the golden kingdom of Solana. His dedication to the city, deep fascination with the tales of the land and purity of soul, bestowed upon him the powers of the light. He’s always ready to fight for the noble cause, and always ready to protect his people.
“Embraced by the Hand of Sol, Boltyn spent many years training and honing his skills, travelling with his fellow knights, and spreading knowledge of the Light. Amidst their ranks he met a cleric named Eirina, whose kindness and grace enchanted him from their very first meeting. Promoted to the role of Inquisitor, Boltyn dedicated himself to Eirina, their son Aios, and the people of their beloved city, as he sought to uphold the principles and teaching of the Light. However, he was unprepared for the shadows which spread across the land; a dark magic assaulted the city, and upon his return from a mission in the golden fields, Boltyn was confronted with the news that Eirina had perished in the attack.”
Boltyn is the first Light Warrior in Flesh and Blood. Always ready to lead his team into the fray, Boltyn’s signature mechanic is charge. Charge allows you to place a card from hand into Boltyn’s soul – a special zone behind the hero card that’s only available to light heroes – for extra effects. Charging not only increases Boltyns soul, but gives your attacks extra potency against being defended by attack action cards – whenever your attack is defended by an attack action card, it powers up your attack by one.
This synergizes with Boltyn’s second part of his hero ability – as an attack reaction, you can remove a card from Boltyn’s soul to give an attack with greater power than its base power go again. The best part about this is that it’s not a once per turn effect. You can do this as many times as your attacks or cards in soul allow. This makes Boltyn a great setup hero. You can charge your soul on previous turns and wait for a blow out hand. Then, you simply charge with all your might, banishing cards from soul to continue giving your attacks go again. But remember, their power must be greater than their base power. This is what makes Boltyn’s specialization pivotal to his overall strategy.
V of the Vanguard powers up all your attacks for the turn, attack action cards and weapons alike. This powering up, combined with your hero ability, makes for some blow out turns. Spamming attacks, while making it difficult for your opponent to defend, makes this specialization deadly with either of the weapon sets released alongside Boltyn.
Both weapon options give a distinct feel to the Boltyn deck you build around them. Hatchets are great in a less light talent-centric deck and stronger with weapon focused cards. These include Spill Blood, Blade Runner and Glisten. Because Hatchets cost a resource each, and often demand extra resources for other attacks, it’s beneficial to have lots of blue pitch cards and impactful red pitch cards.
While Hatchets were released with Boltyn in Monarch, Cintari Sabers have became a popular replacement for the axes due to the double-up of abilities between the hero and these weapons. On top of this, the fact that their cost can be reduced by Courage of Bladehold makes the synergy perfect for a Boltyn combo deck.
The combo revolves around charging up your soul and waiting to play multiple copies of Lumina Ascension. Each copy powers up your Saber and lets you attack an additional time. A single copy lets you attack four times for three damage each, two copies let you attack six times for four damage each and three copies let you attack eight times for five damage each. That’s excluding other power-up effects like being defended by an attack action card or using other effects like Gallantry Gold. This deck has seen a number of successes across the globe, winning multiple nationals events and is a prime example of combo decks in Flesh and Blood.
At its core, Boltyn supports an aggressive playstyle. His signature weapon, Raydn, is a charge machine. Costing zero to activate, easily powered up to gain go again from Boltyn’s hero ability, Radyn is any aggressive player’s dream. Simply charge, attack and swing with Raydn.
A red and yellow pitch-heavy deck works best in this version of a Boltyn deck. Free Raydn activations and many zero and one-cost cards make it a perfect low pitch deck that consistently packs a punch. Boltyn already uses many yellow pitch cards, due to his Light talent, but they align really well to give your deck a solid punch, while fueling some of your attacks with their pitch. Cards like Soul Shield, Lumina Ascension and V of the Vanguard are some examples of powerful yellow pitch cards. Little to no reliance on pitch cards allows for red line, power-heavy aggression. The basic premise of the deck is to constantly pressure your opponent’s life total with these efficiently-costed attacks. Some have beneficial on-hits such as Courage of Bladehold, while some simply damage well, like Valiant Thrust.
Having attack actions available to Boltyn gives him a unique take on the Warrior class. Being able to play a control/combo style with Cintari Sabers, a very aggressive build with Raydn and a weapon-centric build with Hatchets makes him an extremely versatile hero. Having this unknown before a game gives Boltyn players an edge, simply because his opponents do not know what to expect. However, as with other Monarch heroes, having the extra complexity in the form of a talent and another zone – soul – makes Boltyn quite an advanced hero to master. I recommend you give him a try if you either have played with a Warrior hero before or are comfortable with the extra complexity added by the talent system.
