Build Guides
Wildfrost Tribe Builds
Snowdwellers Build Guide & Tier List
The Snowdwellers are Wildfrost's most beginner-friendly tribe, built around stalling enemies with Snow to delay attacks while your damage accumulates. Their starting deck has direct access to Snow and Frost, making them the most reliable tribe for new players to learn the game's pacing.
Tribe identity
Snow freezes a card's Counter and Reaction, going down by 1 each turn. By stacking Snow on threats, you neutralize entire enemy plans while your team builds up Spice, attack boosts, and combo kills. Most other tribes have to outdamage threats; Snowdwellers can simply delay them.
Tier-ranked companions
Tier rankings below are from a community-vetted post on r/wildfrostgame (source) with author justifications.
S-Tier — carries runs
- Snoffel — "Snow on everything is very valuable, particularly if boosted with Lumin Charm, Sun Charm, etc."
- Snoof — Consistent snow on a low cooldown. "He's just very consistent. Very adaptable to what kind of charms you want to throw on him."
- Sneezle — Decently tanky, speeds up your card draw, which is rare as an ability and particularly valuable.
- Tusk — "3 damage teeth on everything is very valuable in providing a lot of damage for little turn investment. Helps a lot of units that get benefits on kill, such as Big Berry too."
A-Tier — solid workhorses
- Berry Bunch — Reliable mid-range Snow output. Good with Lumin Charm.
- Bonnie — Healing on a tanky frame; pairs with sacrifice or attrition strategies.
- Big Berry — "The wall bros. Very solid for enabling healing/shell strategies." Big Berry runs Smackback.
- Roibos — Attack-boost engine: when hit, adds +1 Attack to your lowest-attack ally. Pairs with Tusk and any high-HP carrier.
B-Tier — decent units
- Berry Sis — Middling bulk, but increasing max health of others is nice.
- Lil' Gazi — A strong effect for sure, but very fragile.
- Bombom — "Hard to use, but absolutely has builds she shines in. Both Sacrifice Builds and even just a low hero one she can do a lot of work."
Core builds
Build 1: Pure Snow Lockdown
Concept: stack as much Snow as possible per turn to keep boss attacks permanently frozen.
- Carriers: Snoffel + Snoof
- Key Charms: Lumin Ring (Boost effects by 1), Pengu Charm (Attack from Snow applied to self)
- Items: Storm Globe, Blizzard Bottle, Snow Globe (any item that adds Snow)
- How to play: at battle start, Crown a Snow carrier. Move them between rows so each application affects different threats. Use Lumin to boost the Snow numbers — applying 4+ Snow per turn often locks bosses indefinitely.
Build 2: Snow + Tusk + Berry Engine
Concept: Tusk gives Teeth to all allies; Berry Bunch + Big Berry chain heals; Snow buys time.
- Carriers: Tusk + Big Berry (or Berry Sis) + Snoof
- Key Charms: Lumin Ring on Tusk (boosts Teeth value); Sun Charm on Snoof (free turn cycle)
- Items: Berry Blade, Berry Basket
- How to play: chump-block with Big Berry. Each enemy attack triggers Tusk's Teeth and Big Berry's healing redistribution. Snoof keeps the back row frozen so the front line isn't overwhelmed.
Build 3: Aimless Anti-Snow Deck
When you find Aimless cards (Sneezle's natural fit), the strategy shifts. Aimless attacks pick a random target in the row, so positioning enemies into squishy-targets becomes your win con.
- Carriers: Sneezle + any high-attack Aimless companion
- Why: Sneezle's draw effect lets you cycle through your deck faster, finding Snow + Aimless answer cards.
Critical synergies (data-derived)
From the in-game data, these card combinations are functionally guaranteed to work:
- Lumin Ring → any Snow carrier: doubles Snow effects every cast
- Sun Charm → Snoof: free turn cycle dramatically increases Snow output
- Pengu Charm → any unit you Snow yourself: turns the unit into an attack scaler
Common pitfalls
"Stop making the sexy picks, and take the boring picks that actually cover the weakness of your deck. A lot of people keep getting lured into taking the 'S' or 'A' tier cards, without regard to what's coming up around the corner." — community 10-tips guide
For Snowdwellers specifically:
- Over-snowing the same target: applying Snow to a unit that's already Snow-locked wastes a turn; spread it instead
- Forgetting to position around AoE: Bigfoot's barrage hits all 3 row units; move squishies before they line up
- Hoarding Lumin Ring: it's not your only damage tool — don't save it past Act 2
Recommended bell choices
For Snowdwellers' Snow lockdown plan:
- Frostbourne Bell — extra Frost on your starting items
- Frosthand Bell — Frost stacks at battle start
- Avoid: Snowzooka-disabling bells
Counter-builds to watch for
Some bosses resist Snow:
- Frost Guardian (final boss) — has Snow resistance phases. Pivot to direct damage in those windows.
- The Emperor Shade — Frost Jailers add Unmoveable, breaking your positional plan. Bring an answer to remove them quickly.
Sources: Companion tier rankings from r/wildfrostgame Companion Tier List w/ justification (Mar 2024). General strategy from the 10 Tips guide (May 2023) and 10-Win-Streak Report. Card stats from Wildfrost's in-game Localization tables.
Shademancers Build Guide & Tier List
The Shademancers are the most mechanically deep tribe in Wildfrost, built around the Sacrifice keyword and Shade summons. Unlike Snowdwellers (delay) or Clunkmasters (junk economy), Shademancers create their own win conditions through unit recycling — killing your own units to amplify others, then resurrecting Shades for sustained pressure.
Tribe identity
Sacrifice means an ally killed by another ally counts as "sacrificed", triggering a wide range of payoff effects. Their starting items include cards that sacrifice allies for big effects (like Skull Mist Tea), and core companions either enable sacrifices (Chikichi, Bombom) or pay off on them (Devicro, Van Jun).
Shades are summoned units that don't count toward your party limit — they can be played freely and create board state without consuming card slots.
Tier-ranked companions
Tier rankings below are from a community-vetted post on r/wildfrostgame (source).
S-Tier — carries runs
- Chikichi — "The heart of sacrifice teams. Considering how they immediately replace their board presence, they have a lot of effective work."
- Wort — "Functionally a centerpiece of all poison playstyles, hits very frequently with decent HP and Frenzy, meaning they can be boosted with spice or attack boosts very well."
- Mini Mika — "Easy Frenzy scaling means boosts go way farther with spice/attack."
- Fizzle — "Should be same tier as Wort, though a little slower. Hits very frequently, scaling well with charms, and Bom makes it relevant."
A-Tier — solid workhorses
- Van Jun — Conditional carry. Quoting a top community comment: "Van Jun basically needs Skull Mist tea to shine. But oh man, if you pull that and any decent summon she skyrockets in power. Even just sac'ing a regular minion to skull mist with her on the board is going to give everyone a permanent +3 attack."
- Splinter — "Varies very heavily depending on the fight but can easily carry if they get the right setup."
- Devicro — Sacrifice payoff: gains stats from sac'd allies' attack.
- Loki — Demonize on attack. "A mixed bag — Aimless makes him hit-or-miss, but the demonize is very real damage."
B-Tier — workable but situational
- Bombom — "Hard to use, but absolutely has builds she shines in. Both Sacrifice Builds and a low hero one she can do work. She can wipe a lot of other combats for free." (Promoted from C after community feedback)
Core builds
Build 1: Pure Sacrifice Engine
Concept: continuously sacrifice allies to fuel Devicro, Van Jun, or other payoffs.
- Carriers: Chikichi (sacrifice enabler) + Devicro/Van Jun (payoff)
- Key Items: Skull Mist Tea (kill ally + buff)
- Key Charms: Punchfist Charm (When Sacrificed, add Attack to allies); Strawberry Charm (Consume + heal)
- How to play: lead with cheap allies (Eggs from Chikichi, Shades). Each death feeds your payoff. Crown Devicro or Van Jun so they're always on the field to receive sacrifice triggers.
Build 2: Summon Spam
Concept: flood the board with cheap Shades to overwhelm enemy targeting.
- Carriers: Van Jun + Fallow + Blank Mask
- Key Cards: Skull Mist Tea, Soulbound Skulls (with Crown — see below)
- How to play: Fallow spawns Shades; Blank Mask copies enemy effects. Each summon is a chump-block. Van Jun's aura affects every summon.
Build 3: Soulbound Skull True-Ending Cheese
A high-skill technique called out by u/flojito on r/wildfrostgame:
"Soulbound Skulls can be incredibly good, but only if you put a crown on it. What you want to do is crown one or more Soulbound Skulls/Shade Clays plus one unit that's either useless or that you actually want to sacrifice (like Egg or Chikichi). Then play only that unit, and play your skulls on whichever enemies will cause the rest of your deck the most problems. If you get two or three Soulbound Skulls (or Shade Clays) it makes the true ending fight absolutely trivial!"
Caution: without crowns, Soulbound Skulls can hit your Leader and instantly lose the run.
Build 4: Wort Poison Frenzy
Don't mistake Shademancers for sacrifice-only — Wort is a top-tier Frenzy carry.
- Carriers: Wort + Mini Mika + any Spice/Attack boost
- Key Charms: Frenzy Charm (more attacks), Battle Charm (+2 attack), Lumin Ring (boost effects)
- How to play: Wort hits 3+ times per turn. Each Spice stack multiplies output. With Lumin Ring on attack-boost units, Wort hits double-digit damage every swing.
Critical synergies
- Chikichi + Punchfist Charm: every Egg sacrificed adds Attack to all allies
- Van Jun + Skull Mist Tea: sacrifice an ally → Van Jun's attack adds to all summons permanently
- Fallow + Blank Mask: Blank Mask copies Fallow's summon effect, doubling output
- Wort + Spice/Attack boosts + Frenzy Charm: Frenzy multiplies every boost
Common pitfalls
- Sacrificing without payoff on board: killing your own units without a Devicro/Van Jun/Chikichi on the field is just losing units
- Soulbound Skulls without Crown: can target your Leader and instantly end the run (see u/ArcticPilot's experience: "It tagged Klunker [my leader] and my Leader. To be fair it did give me the deal 100 damage achievement but a run-losing item is even worse than dice giving your opponents free block.")
- Not buying Crowns: per the 10-tips guide, Shademancers benefit from Crowns even more than other tribes because their key payoffs need to be on the field at battle start
Recommended bell choices
- Companion Injuries Bell: encourages keeping allies alive through buffs (since dying = injured run-wide)
- Avoid: Soulbound bell (forces Soulbound on starting items, which wrecks Sacrifice plans by limiting sacrifice targets)
Counter-builds to watch for
- The Emperor Shade: ironically, the Shade boss has Shade-killer effects. Bring extra summon copies.
- High-Smackback bosses: chump-block sacrifice plans don't work when chumps die instantly to Smackback. Use units with HP > Smackback damage.
Sources: Tier rankings from r/wildfrostgame Companion Tier List w/ justification. Soulbound Skull strategy from Item Tier List Discord post. General strategy from the 10 Tips guide and the 10-Win-Streak Report. Stats from in-game Localization data.
Clunkmasters Build Guide & Tier List
The Clunkmasters are Wildfrost's resource-driven tribe, built around Junk economy, Scrap accumulation, and Frenzy + Weakness (formerly Bom) payoffs. Their gameplay is more "engine-builder" than the other tribes — early turns are about setting up the loop, mid-game it pays out exponentially.
Tribe identity
- Junk: clogs your hand but can be Recycled by Clunkmaster items for huge effects
- Scrap: a damage layer that absorbs hits 1 at a time (similar to Block but on Clunkers); when a unit with Scrap dies, it spawns Junk
- Frenzy: makes units attack multiple times — combos brutally with Weakness (additional damage from all sources)
- Clunkers: durable mech allies that don't take damage normally (lose Scrap instead)
Tier-ranked companions
Tier rankings below are from a community-vetted post on r/wildfrostgame (source).
S-Tier — carries runs
- Scaven — "An engine for junk teams, providing a steady stream, while also hitting hard and frequently. Solid all around, almost never a bad pick."
- Mini Mika — "Easy Frenzy scaling means boosts go way farther with spice/attack. Definitely changed my mind on her."
- Kernel — "The wall bros. Very solid for enabling healing/shell strategies." Pairs with Big Berry strategies.
- Alloy — From a community Alloy-focused post: "All scrap up, the new alloy is really good, really fun." (After patch). She generates Scrap on attacks, fueling the Junk strategy directly.
A-Tier — solid workhorses
- Kreggo / Nom & Stompy — "The destroy card users. For Clunkmasters, they have very adaptable styles, since Destroy can trigger even off of units being killed, they tend to scale pretty well. Both are very slow, but hard hitters scaling well off of Smackback abilities or Frenzy abilities like Blaze Tea."
- Folby — "Respectable health and junk on hit is good. Not quite the immediate payoff of the S-tier tanks since you have to translate junk effects through another card, but a solid pick."
- Mama Tinkerson — Frenzy-on-allies aura. Build-defining with any Scrap-loaded Clunker.
- Biji — "A bit slow and needs some health or support to get going, but Bom (Weakness) is a strong playstyle. Workable." Paired with Alloy for Bom stacking.
- Tinkerson Jr. — Recycle synergy. "Hard to get going, but argue better than Mini Mika with the right cards."
B-Tier — workable
- Dimona — Mid-tier; needs specific Frenzy or Recycle support.
- Fizzle — Cross-tribe strong; Bom (Weakness) carrier with high attack frequency.
Core builds
Build 1: Scrap → Junk → Boom
Concept: stack Scrap on Clunkers, then convert dead Clunkers' Junk into massive damage via Recycle items.
- Carriers: Alloy + 2-3 Clunkers (Bitebox, Heartforge, Spike Wall)
- Key Items: Bom Barrel (Recycle 2 Junk → AoE), Frostbite Shard (Recycle), B.I.N.K. (Recycle 2)
- Key Charms: Scrap Charm (start with 5 Scrap), Strawberry Charm (heal-on-consume)
- How to play: front-load Scrap on Clunkers via Alloy + Scrap items. Clunkers absorb hits cheaply. When a Clunker dies, it generates Junk. Recycle the Junk through items for massive damage.
Build 2: Frenzy + Weakness Engine
Concept: stack Frenzy on a high-attack unit, then debuff enemies with Weakness for multiplicative damage.
- Carriers: Mini Mika + Mama Tinkerson + Wort (cross-tribe pickup)
- Key Items: Blaze Bom (x1 Frenzy + 4 Weakness), Frenzy Wrench
- Key Charms: Frenzy Charm (more attacks), Lumin Ring (boost effects)
- How to play: get Mini Mika scaling early. Mama Tinkerson auras Frenzy to all Scrap-loaded Clunkers, turning them into multi-hit attackers. Apply Weakness for double-dipping damage.
Build 3: Junk Lock (advanced)
Concept: feed enemies Junk to clog their turns while you Recycle yours for damage.
- Carriers: Folby + B.I.N.K. + any Junk producer
- Key Charms: Trash Charm (gain Trash on cards)
- How to play: this build requires deep familiarity with Junk mechanics. Most players won't reach the consistency needed; included for advanced players.
Critical synergies
- Alloy + any Clunker: Scrap distribution feeds Junk pipeline
- Mama Tinkerson + Scrap-heavy Clunker: Frenzy on a tank-Clunker turns it into a damage dealer
- Biji + Alloy: Bom (Weakness) stacking pushes damage past boss thresholds
- Lumin Ring + any Clunker effect: doubles Junk/Scrap output
From the 10-Tips guide:
"Stack Scrap on your Clunkers and a single Junk trigger wipes the board. Since the target is random, keep your bench filled with Clunkers so the Scrap rarely goes to waste."
Common pitfalls
- Hand clog without Recycle outlets: Junk is dead weight if you don't have Recycle items. Always pick up at least one Recycle item.
- Sacrificing Clunkers too early: Clunkers die to Scrap depletion, not HP. Keep them alive for sustained Junk output.
- Overcommitting to Frenzy without payoff: Frenzy + 0 attack = 0 damage × N. Always pair Frenzy with attack-boost items/charms.
- Ignoring the Bling Bank: Clunkers benefit massively from Bling-related cards because Greed scales their attacks.
Recommended bell choices
For Clunkmaster Junk/Scrap plans:
- Frostbourne Bell — extra Frost helps stall while engine sets up
- Companion Injuries Bell — encourages keeping Clunkers alive
- Avoid: Cursed Crowns Bell (forces negative crowns — bad with Crown-dependent payoffs)
Counter-builds to watch for
- Frost Guardian (final boss) — Phase 2 destroys hand cards. Junk-heavy decks suffer disproportionately. Bring extra Recycle outlets.
- The Emperor Shade — Frost Junker destroys the rightmost card every turn. Position critical Recycle items in the middle of your hand.
A note on the new Alloy (post-patch)
The community post u/Legend2-3-8 — All scrap up, the new alloy is really good confirms that the post-patch Alloy is now a much stronger pick:
"You can also cleanse the Bom with berry basket now which makes her generally very tanky!"
Pre-patch tier lists may underrate Alloy. Treat her as S-tier for current versions.
Sources: Tier rankings from r/wildfrostgame Companion Tier List. Item rankings from Item Tier List by Discord. Alloy update from community post. General strategy from the 10 Tips guide and 10-Win-Streak Report. Stats from in-game data.