Pumping the attack power on Legends of Runeterra units is the Hallowed mechanic from the Forces from Beyond expansion, featuring Gwen and her lifedraining snips.
Midrange and Aggro attack decks have a long-standing history within Legends of Runeterra, from Elise Spiders to Bandle City Yordles with Poppy and Lulu. Gwen and her Hallowed mechanic have added a new layer of playability and strategy when building an attack-focused deck. The Forces from Beyond champion is versatile and can get played in various archetypes, all while having a solid foundation of cards to build around with Gwen being slotted into the Shadow Isles region.
How Gwen and Hallowed work in Legends of Runeterra
Gwen is a four-cost Shadow Isles LoR champion with 3/4 base stats at level one and the keywords Quick Attack and Hallowed. When Gwen attacks, she gains the power bonus from the Hallowed mechanic in addition to the first unit attacking. She also drains two from the enemy Nexus. Leveling up Gwen requires her to deal 10 or more total damage.
Upon leveling up, Gwen’s stats increase to 4/5 and she still gains the power bonus from the Hallowed mechanic. Instead of only draining the enemy Nexus for two, however, Gwen drains one from the enemy Nexus for every two power that she has. A Gwen with a power of 10, for example, will drain a total of five from an enemy Nexus upon attacking.
Each drain from an enemy Nexus is considered a skill, appropriately called Snip!. Gwen also has a champion spell called Thread the Needle, killing an ally in order to deal that ally’s power to an enemy.
What is Hallowed?
Hallowed is an LoR keyword mechanic that is directly tied to Gwen but can get used without the Shadow Isles champion. Upon a unit dying that has Hallowed, the first unit to attack gains +1/+0 in stats. Stats will stack and increase with each Hallowed death. Two Ghastly Bands dying, for example, will add +2/+0 to the Hallowed stack for the remainder of the game.
At the time of the Forces from Beyond release, there are five Shadow Isles units with the keyword Hallowed and one spell.
- Boisterous Host: A one-cost 2/1 follower
- Phantom Butler: A two-cost 3/1 follower with Fearsome
- Conductor of the Mists: A three-cost 4/2 follower with Last Breath trigger that creates a Ghastly Band in hand
- Ghostly Paramour: A four-cost 3/3 with Lifesteal
- Eternal Dancers: A six-cost 3/6 follower that revives an attacking Ephemeral copy of the strongest dead ally other than Eternal Dancers with its power or less upon attacking.
- Strike up the Band: A three-cost Slow speed spell that summons two Ghastly Bands
Of all the units and spells with Hallowed, Eternal Dancers is by far the best LoR card within the support package. Hallowed synergizes with Gwen, since she has the keyword, but can work with any archetype and other champions.
Gwen and Hallowed attack positioning
The Hallowed mechanic gets applied to the first unit attacking, with “first” being the far left unit on the battlefield in the combat zone. Gwen also gets her stats pumped from the Hallowed triggers, even if she isn’t the first champion in the combat zone, which is why players should never put Gwen as the first attacker.
Placing Eternal Dancers as the first attacking unit is powerful, depending on how many Hallowed stacks there are, and the power level of the strongest dead ally. If Gwen is the strongest dead ally and she hasn’t leveled up yet, players don’t need to put Eternal Dancers as the first attacker since it will summon her anyways.
Damage through Gwen’s Snip skill gets calculated once combat resolves, leaving her and the Snip damage vulnerable to Frostbite. Having a few pump spells at Burst speed within a Gwen deck can counter a Frost attack.
Gwen Legends of Runeterra decks
Since the release of Forces from Beyond, Gwen has been paired with almost every playable champion within Legends of Runeterra that thrives on attacking. The only aspect holding Gwen back slightly is her Hallowed support package.
Phantom Butler and Ghostly Paramour are the weakest Hallowed units—leaving Boisterous Host, Conductor of the Mists, and Eternal Dancers as the three auto-include followers. And Strike up the Band is a solid spell, depending on the archetype it’s slotting into.
Gwen is a great addition to the Riven Reforge build, as seen during day one gameplay by Snnuy. She also pairs well with Quinn and Scouts, tested out by Mogwai on day one of the Forces from Beyond release. Gwen is even seeing gameplay with Braum and Kalista. And Scarzig had a solid start to a Gwen and Diana build during the Early Access event.Â
As the Legends of Runeterra Forces from Beyond meta continues to expand and settle, all playable Gwen decks will get updated.
