The Circle's List of File Types - Refess

[Jazzock]

This is an outline of several files types within refess and the common cards found within it. These threads are essentially an updated version of Harvests threads. These aim to make it easier for newer players to see what works well together and hopefully allow them to make their own exciting files. I'd like to thank The Circle - Especially NitroDino and Icyman who helped make the outlines and provided some links. I'd also like to thank everyone who gave their support in doing this. Special Thanks once again to harvest4god who inspired these threads. I will try to keep these updated.
Note that I am defining 'rush' files as Lv 1-3 files, Mids as files which use at least 1 Lv 4-6 unit and Bigs as files which usually use at least 1 Lv 7-9 unit for simplicity.


The Other Threads
The Circle's List of File Types - Lawtia
The Circle's List of File Types - Gowen
The Circle's List of File Types - Falkow
The Circle's List of File Types - Multisphere

Contains:
RUSH
- HKL
- Buncles
- EM
- SK
MID
- Mid Solar Kingdom
- Knights
- TGC
BIG
- Starmander/Big Ref


Coming Soon
-


Cards Useful for most refess files:
Talisman of Disruption * Kills undead and gives DEF buff.
The General's Order *** Gives attack boosts to your units, good timing can help avoid several removal soul skills.
Key to the Holy Realm *** If timed well this grimoire could save your units from an untimely death to soul skills.
Faerie Blessing Makes your units immune to engage until the end of next turn.
Fallen Moon Child / Miffyre ***** Start skill sp generation, potentially allowing for quickly rushing units.
Like the Hand of God *** Refess go-to grimoire for dealing with extremely difficult to kill/ dangerous units.



Low Level / Rush Files


HKL (Holy Knight Lapierre)
This file is essentially the definition of refess playstyle. The aim of this file is to get many level Lv 2-3, 1-2 agi refess units on the field at once and have Holy Knight Lapierre buff them. Many of the cards are fairly low rarity and key cards can be obtained easily by getting the 'Lapierre's Legion' Pre-built file in the shop.

Key Units:
Holy Knight / Lapierre EX File isn't called HKL for nothing
Boy Combat Priest * or similar SP+2 SS, nearly essential to survive against falkow.

Common Cards:
Knight of Frailty / Etoile Allows your units to gain attack faster.
Elite Folrart Acolyte * Tank unit, buffs friendlies left and right and itself, decent attack.
Folrart Charge Knight ** Decent ranged unit with a decent action skill.
Folrart Unicorn Knight Buffs Knight subtype, decent ranged unit with a trait that makes it a character slayer.
Folrart Heavy Knight ** Good tank who is immune to grimoires.
Folrart Hammer Soldier ** Very high hp and can deal lots of damage based on how much hp it has lost.
Folrart Greatsword Soldier ** Decent stats with a funny counter skill.
EX: Lycanthrope [Brahma] EX Self sustained morning which allows for healing towards end of turn.
Spined Armadillo * Counter can deal lots of damage and ignores DEF.
Priest of the Holy Weapon * Buffs attack of units and then slows itself down to agi 2 which allows him to get buffed by HKL
Instant revival ** To revive Lapierre with.
Sunbeam Cage ** Underused Grimoire that is very good against non-refess files.
The General's Order *** Helps avoid assassin soul skills, and gives up to +20 attack to friendly units.
Emerald Carbuncle ** Good open, helps activates soul skills, acts as 'filler' in between spamming Lv3s.
Folrart Archer * Powerful refess ranged unit. Who can average up to 1.5 attack/turns

Example File:
Lapierre's Legion Prebuild

Videos:
N/A


Carbuncles (Buncles)
One of the most under-rated files in the game. When played well these little guys are extremely good, and when played badly, they are horrible. These have the potential to be, in Gon's words "new meta." This file plays much like HKL except slightly more control and a lot faster. Again, many of these cards are available in the Prebuild 'Carbuncle Action'

Key Cards:
Red General / Ruby Eater EX Buffs and can do lots of damage with action skill, one of the key cards to the file.
Diamond Carbuncle ** Mass debuffer and can get very fast using it's start skill.
Emerald Carbuncle ** Excellent filler card to throw out in between lvl 3's as it dodges shade, allows SS activation and if it is alive, it buffs friendlies.
Amethyst Carbuncle ** Fast and sets opponents DEF to 0 for the turn. Also free revive.
SP generation SS such as Boy Combat Priest *

Common Cards:
Agate Carbuncle ** Can get very high attack, is very fast and buffs friendly buncles
Jade Carbuncle ** Fast and fairly tanky with 10 DEF also lowers the attack of target enemy unit.
Sapphire Carbuncle ** Very tanky and debuffs enemy Lv2 units.
Ruby Carbuncle ** Buffs and is fairly tanky.
Opal Carbuncle ** Heals Buncles, tanky Lv2, can chance to generate SP on counter.
Obsidian Carbuncle Gives permanent attack boost and 1 turn def boost on open. Takes 30-40dmg to kill (with ruby general on the field) and can heal/revive a friendly.
Violet General / Amethyst Eater EX Open skill can allow for rushing more buncles out faster. Action can potentially be saving for when Ruby General dies.
Key to the Holy Realm *** If timed well this grimoire could save your units from an untimely death to soul skills.


Example Files:
Sunbunman's Underdog Buncles

Videos:
Icy's Buncles


Eternal Morning (EM)
EM is a file that tries to keep it eternally morning (as per the name) to use it's unit's SP generation and buffing skills. This file when left alone can gain a massive SP advantage over the opponent and pretty much win through outnumbering the opponent.

Key Cards:
Solar Prince / Verlaat ***** One of the few cards that can actually keep it morning. Free revive and can heal friendly units makes this card fairly good on the field itself.
Knight of Shrine Zero ** One of the only ways to deal with units with High DEF.
Sun and Birth / Weissvogel EX Auto Skill generates SP when morning, fast unit with decent AT.
Key to the Holy Realm *** Gives DEF boost for a turn which may save your units from untimely deaths.

Common Cards:
Twin Wing Knight / Bistya *** Heals friendlies on open, can return Lv2 from cemetery on close.
Twin Wing Knight / Glosfiea *** As above.
Blessed Knight / Orfen *** Buffs friendly units during Morning.
Unknown Knight / Aano **** Good refess unit all round. Can help deal with problematic units.
Holy Knight / Lapierre EX Can deal maxHP hate.
Priests of the Royal Guard * Can buff Verlaat and then the field.
Emerald Carbuncle ** good unit to activate soul skills with or act as filler in between playing Lv3s
EX: Light Magic Archer EX Can save a unit with open skill, takes at least 2 hits to kill.
Instant Revival ** Can keep a unit alive for longer.
Meeting of Kings * Can return copies of Verlaat from the cemetery.
Sunbeam Cage ** Underrated refess grimoire which can potentially allow you to deal that extra bit of damage.
Miracle Fruit ** Can get your units above returnable levels, possibly a game changer.
Saber Saint / Lapierre *** A fast ranged unit with decent attack. Good to use as it allows more units on the field and doesn't take up a front line position.
EX: Lycanthrope [Brahma] EX Can help keep battletime morning. Also heals when it's morning.
The General's Order *** Helps avoid assassin soul skills, and gives up to +20 attack to friendly units.

Example Files:
None yet.

Videos:
N/A


Shrine Knights (SK)
The idea of this file is to build up a field of Shrine Knights as fast as possible and use start skill buffs to overrun your opponents field. This file is easy to build it, just get the Shrine Knights prebuilt from the shop.

Key Cards:
Knight of Shrine Zero ** - really important for the file because she gives permanent AT boosts
Knight of the 1st Shrine ** - gives AT boosts and with 50 HP she usually can take a hit before she dies
Knight of the 2nd Shrine ** - free revive
Knight of the 3rd Shrine ** - gives AGI boosts at start phase
4th Shrine Leader / Elaice *** - raises MaxHP and revives, really useful against gowen match ups

Common Cards:
Knight of the 4th Shrine ** - RNG boost, useful in the SK return variant with the Absolute Wall + Zero combo
Knight of the 5th Shrine ** - stat increase on open, the level increase can prevent returns, has a maxhp skill
Folrart Shrine Knight ** - a mini tank with Knight of the 2nd Shrine
Unknown Knight / Aano **** - remove annoying things with her like Bringer, Dilate...
Key to the Holy Realm *** - protects your Shrine Knights from soul skills and damage, ideally you use it and iczer attack into your opponents LP
Fallen Moon Child / Miffyre ***** - for opening
3rd Shrine Leader / Ridrea *** - usually used as soul skill, revives a friendly Shrine Knight unit and gives a huge stat boost
Caith Sith ** - most players use it as 4th soul skill, it is really useful to keep your field alive
Emerald Carbuncle ** - used as open and as sacrifice unit
Will o' the Wisp * - it's open can save some of your units from open skill damage and used as sacrifice unit
Kesaran Pasaran * - for SP generating and can be used as sacrifice unit
Instant Revival ** - useful to get a 4th copy of a Shrine Knight unit.
The General's Order *** Helps avoid assassin soul skills, and gives up to +20 attack to friendly units.
Solar Princess / Aliria ***** Auto skill revives a friendly unit, close skill can save your forces from some things. Makes good bait for grimoires.

Example Files:
SK


Mid Files

Mid Solar Kingdom
The basic idea of this file is to get out your tanky Mid solar kingdom units such as Guardian and veteran folrart paladin, and support them with other units until you overrun the opponent.

Key Cards:
Folrart Guardian * Staple in most refess files able to use it. Tanky with a good counter skill.
Veteran Folrart Paladin ** Another excellent mid-refess tank unit. Can also deal lots of damage, sometimes wins games by itself.
Moon Child / Miffyre Fairly tanky, auto skill generates sp and action skill buffs and heals friendly units. Also has the great advantage of locking out non-refess Lv1 units (such as owl sage)

Common Cards:
Blessed Armour Knight * Decent tank unit that removes opponents cards from the cemetery when hit.
Right-Hand Shield / Garfath **** Buffs DEF on auto and heals on open.
Assault Battering Ram * Can be used in combination with Rubens for super tank front row and decent damage.
The Impregnable / Rubens ***** Can be used with assault battering ram for more tanking. Still good by himself however.
King of Mankind / Verlaat DEF boosting open skill, max hp hate, start skill that buffs friendly Solar Kingdom units. Essentially the Refess version of Bringer.
5th Shrine Leader / Judie *** Good open skill, auto skill can help give your units the extra punch they need.
Solar Princess / Aliria ***** Auto skill revives a friendly unit, close skill can save your forces from some things. Makes good bait for grimoires.
Priests of the Royal Guard * Use with King of Mankind or Aliria to give your forces a fairly large AT boost.
Pegasus Knights * Good offensive Lv5 unit with a good start skill. Requires smart placement.
Holy Light *** Potentially a game winning Grimoire.
Key to the Holy Realm *** If timed well this grimoire could save your units from an untimely death to soul skills.
Recovery Powder * Used for SP generation
The General's Order *** Gives attack boosts to your units, good timing can help avoid several removal soul skills.
Pretender to the Sun / Alphonce ***** Can pinpoint enemy units and return cards from your cemetery to card file. Also removes a closed card on the opponent side of the field when he iczer attacks.
6th Shrine Leader / Lumira *** May possibly be used as another tank. Open skill can kill certain units before they act.
Heavy Folrart Guardian ** A more aggressive version of guardian (more attack power, arguably weaker counter)
Veteran Shrine Knight ** Disengages friendly units, then engages up to two enemy units on open. Fairly high attack power and decent defense, coupled with high speed and pinpoint make this unit a fairly good add to mid-SK. Also punishes units with defense.
Solar General / Zagar **** Can get high amounts of attack if it survives with high amounts of HP.
Folrart Psycho Soldier ** Powerful refess ranged unit who heals enemy units when it does not kill them (unless you have a Duchy unit on the field)

Example Files:
Mid Solar Kingdom

Videos:
Icy's Mid-Ref Video


Knights
This file concentrates mainly on guardian and aivault to deal lots of counter damage to defeat the opponent. Another typical refess style file of getting units on the field and then bulldozing over the opponent through sheer force.

Key Cards:
Right Hand Man / Aivault *** Buffs a knight and can redirect damage to knights beside him.
Folrart Guardian * Does excellent counter damage
Folrart Unicorn Knight Buffs knights and basically kills characters by itself

Common cards:
Refugee Spear Master / Aria Dualsphere with falkow that locks grimoires, potentially useful in this kind of file, also a Knight subtype.
Knight of Frailty / Etoile Buffs the slow and low attack units, also a Knight
5th Shrine Leader / Judie *** Buffs Lv4 units and good open skill.
Moon Child / Miffyre Heals and buffs friendly units, also can generate SP
King of Mankind / Verlaat Great unit to use in a mid file.
Thorned Battle Diva EX Fairly rare but decent knight to use.
Heavy Folrart Guardian ** A more aggressive variant of guardian (more attack power, but arguably weaker counter)
The General's Order *** Helps avoid assassin soul skills, and gives up to +20 attack to friendly units.
Key to the Holy Realm *** If timed well this grimoire could save your units from an untimely death to soul skills.
Recovery Powder * Used for SP generation
Any other Knight

Example Files:
Mid Ref Knights

Videos:
N/A


True God Church (TGC)
This file is usually synonymous with priests which aim to gain large amounts of max HP and bulldoze the opponent just by being unable to be killed easily. However Since set 12, it has potential to act more aggressively.

Key Cards:
Cardinal / Messala *** Can sacrifice TGC units to gen sp. Also very tank (for a level 2) and provides lots of control.

Common Cards:
Sun Tyrant / Gilensa EX Buffs a TGC unit and can revive a TGC unit.
Wandering Priest / Raste *** Buffs priests and can set enemy units to maxhp=0
Boy Combat Priest * Buffs friendly units on start, close skill can buff a TGC unit.
Boy Inquisitor / Cudgel EX Can deal massive damage to big units/really fast units.
Inquisition Nun / Cynthia *** Free revive.
High Inquisitor / Fortune EX Can set enemy non-refess unit of Lv4 or lower to RNG=0
Demon Nun / Cosmos EX A strong unit which can get very high attack.
Church Paladin ** Can buff friendly units with open skill if their attack is low enough. Action skill can heal a friendly unit.
Inquisition Night Raider ** Good level 2 unit ranged unit for TGC.
Girl Combat Priest * Can do maxHP hate and heal for 1SP.
Inquisition Raid Leader * Has shield breaker and buffs friendly units.
Keeper of Grace / Lucia *** Can fully heal ALL units on both sides of field. Start skill can provide massive attack boost.
EX: Inquisition Nun / Cynthia EX Can do maxHP hate with counter.
Inquisitor Sergeant / Gravan *** Fairly tank with a decent counter skill.
EX: Judge of Heretics / Bardia EX Decent healing open skill and decent buffing start skill.
High Priestess * Can set refess level to = 2x number of TGC units which opens up the game for more damage based on ex: cynthia or mid-big units and grimoires.

Example Files:
N/A

Videos:
N/A


Big Files


Starmander or Big Refess
The idea behind this file is to build up SP and drop Star Dragon. Salamanders are used to trigger the counter skill of the Star Dragon. Star Dragon and Salamander are the only 2 units need for this file. The ss line up usually contains in the first 2 spots Lycanthrope [Seraph] and Caith Sith. The rest of the file contains usually grims and some mid units like Brutal Mammoth.

Key Cards:
Star Dragon **
Salamander *

Common Cards:
Recovery Powder * - for SP generating
Lycanthrope [Seraph] ** - gives you fast sphere levels
Caith Sith ** - for SP, sometimes used up to 2 copies are used in soul skill spot 2 and 3
True Holy Emperor / Retear ***** - used in meta versions of the file to keep bringing back Star Dragon
Brutal Mammoth * - used to stall
Folrart Guardian * - some variants use her early game to protect your LP until you bring out Star Dragon
Veteran Folrart Paladin ** - same as Guardian and can be used to deal some damage
The Impregnable / Rubens ***** - same as Guardian, but higher rarity
Judgement Hammer *** - damage grim
Burning Sun ** - used to field wipe with Resource/Kaldrao or make Stardragon easier to kill rush files
2nd Dragonrider / Resource ***** - for Burning Sun combo
White Sage / Kaldrao EX - same as Resource and it can trigger Star Dragons counter skill
Unwanted Charity ** - to protect your big units from Assassin Soul Skill or other return soul skills
Star Lord / Bastandorra *** - used once Star Dragon dies
Cure * - for healing
Folrart Mage * - used because of Magic Bolt
Magic Bolt * - high refess levels = high damage even more with Folrart Mage
Right-hand Shield / Garfath **** - used because of heal open
Aura of the Holy Emperor **** - for reviving your big units and maybe bringing them back
Phoenix Chick * - undying Phoenix


Example Files:
Starmander



Other Useful Links:
A Breakdown of Files - A Refess Story (harvest4god)
Guides Index Thread

[skillll7]

I would argue that Key of the Holy Realm is key (ha!) to EM. It's hard surviving without it, especially with all the newer releases to the game. If you want to be daring, adding Absolute Wall for an extra SP is pretty cute, but that one SP makes a difference.

Lycans aren't all that uncommon to EM either.

[Shirozaki]

Lycans aren't all that uncommon to EM either.

Oh no, you didn't.

[Jazzock]

Lycans aren't all that uncommon to EM either.

I'm agreeing with Shiro on this, they aren't really worth using at all, its better to use other units
Moved Key to the key cards, I personally wasn't too sure about that myself as I haven't played EM yet.

[Khiruki]

I really like Saber Saint Lapierre for EM. She's fast as balls and has 3 RNG. One problem with EM is the large number of 1RNG units clogging the front line, so having some ranged units is good. I like Cynthia too, since she has a hard hitting action skill, is fast as balls, and is free revive. She has 1RNG though so she takes up a front line slot.

[Peralisc9001]

Yah key is definitely annoying. I did add it to my every mid refess file.

[Shirozaki]

Now that this is out of the circle forum and public domain it is time for me to contribute my share. I shall do so with a dinner knife.

This is of course all in good spirit and merely the opinion I formed from playing certain files.

The Impregnable / Rubens ***** Used with assault battering ram for more tanking. Still good by himself however.

While his usage with the Ram makes for quite a nice innuendo it should not be the top priority combination of Rubens. In the majority of the situation using Rubens alone and focusing on other setups benefits you more than a situational impenetratable wall. Another, more cost efficient and fragile setup, is to pair him with Safiria.

King of Mankind / Verlaat DEF boosting open skill, max hp hate, start skill that buffs friendly units. essentially the Refess version of Bringer.

A minor nitpick, but his start skill only supports Solar Kingdom units.

Moon Child / Miffyre Fairly tanky, auto skill generates sp and action skill buffs and heals friendly units.

It is worth noting that one of her major redeeming qualities is not her tankiness or her action skill, but her moon barrier, which locks out Lv1 units. This can be gamechanging if applied well. I think I would even go as far as to add her to the Key cards, due to the common availability and versatility of hers.

Things I would add to mid-refess.

Lv1 Miffyre (5*) and Inspiration (3*). Before you behead me, I tested this and saw it later in Kemious' test file as a decent opening for Mid Refess. It gives you a massive boost at the beginning of the game and lets you play Lv4s and Lv5s like they're a Lv3 rush. (And most of the time you have more uses for the SP than the enemy)

Pretender to the Sun / Alphonce, he has nice utility in pure refess files, as well as Servant of the Sun / Safiria, who is mostly a grimbait and can be horribly annoying if left untouched. Not necessarily in conjunction, but both open up various options.

6th Shrine Knight Leader / Lumira. While I haven't had much luck with her, she has some potential as substitute Guardian. She is relatively tanky, has a damaging open skill and can cause quite some damage. She also works in conjunction with Safiria, since she is useless if she doesn't get hit and disengages herself if she is. I believe I've seen her as a single copy in Kemious test file.

Amethyst Carbuncle ** Fast and sets opponents DEF to 0 for the turn.

I would go so far as to add it to the Key cards, due to being a free reviver and the most used Buncle in buncle files.

Jade Carbuncle ** Fast and fairly tanky with 10 DEF also lowers the attack of target enemy unit.

I recommend taking not more than two copies of this card. Should it die while Red Ruby Eater is on the field, the start skill from Red Ruby Eater will completely disable it.

Folrart Standard Bearer * Can help make it morning

I don't exactly know what this guy is doing here. His ability to change the time during the action phase doesn't benefit you all that much. He speedruns with Weissvogel and doesn't trigger Orfen's buff at all.

Emerald Carbuncle ** good unit to activate soul skills with or act as filler in between playing Lv3s

While I would agree with that sentiment in any other Level three rush, using a Lv1 as a filler goes against the general idea of "pumping out Lv3 in rapid succession" that Verlaatvogel enables.

Knight of the 6th Shrine ** - grimmune and grimbanes

I would dissuade anyone from using her. I talked with Sherry about this card shortly after its release and he was under the impression that she was made as a hybrid between "General Refess file/HK Lap" and "Shrine Knights. She is semi-tanky, she is slow and she is SP intensive if you want to bane. All of these "qualities" don't find any use in Shrine Knights.

4th Shrine Leader / Elaice *** - raises MaxHP and revives, really useful against gowen match ups

I would say ever since her release, and now set 11 she is arguably THE key card to Shrine Knights.

Cards you forgot

General's order, it gives you a whooping 20 AT buff ea on an established field.

Aliria, while completely irrational and space consuming can quite satisfying to set up with Elaice and watch the enemy ponder to see which one to hit with the next SS.

Faerie Blessing, an underappreciated and reactional card that saved my Shrine Priestesses a few times. I admit that this is absolutely niché, but it found a quick way in my heart versus Chaos Annarose (Pre-nerf).

More to come.

[GonFreeces31]

I agree that SK6th is kinda useless. She used to be weaker too and people thought she was balanced...

[skillll7]

Cure * - for healing

Ew.

The Dragon Miku card in Falkow is a pretty good SS for Starmander.

[NitroDino]

Cure * - for healing

Ew.

The Dragon Miku card in Falkow is a pretty good SS for Starmander.

Yeah and new players can get it at every corner.