Mel
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Good (7.5/10)
High Investment Required
Epic Relics
Paid Relics
Mel is a powerful but polarizing champion. While capable of clearing the hardest content, she suffers from extreme mana hunger and fragility at lower star levels. Her most effective strategies often involve circumventing her intended playstyle (using Dreadway Chase Gun to ignore mana costs) or requiring significant investment (C5/C6) to function smoothly. Players enjoy her puzzle-like spell sequencing, but many find her base kit clunky without specific Epic relics.
Infinite Warning Shots
Essential for shuffling copies of Mel back into the deck and reducing the cost of her champion spell. Allows for consistent re-summoning.
Generates two Warning Shots on summon. When combined with Mel's 6-star power (which can copy spells) or simply replaying her, this provides massive burst damage.- A second copy increases the burst damage to 4 Warning Shots per summon. This creates a loop where you play Mel, empty your hand of Warning Shots, let her die or trade, and replay her to repeat the process.
Strategy
This is widely considered her strongest and fastest build, capable of Turn 2 or 3 wins. It bypasses her mana issues by relying on 0-cost Warning Shots for damage and level-up triggers. The strategy treats Mel as an expendable unit; you want her to leave the board so you can replay her and trigger the summon effects again. This build is particularly effective at 6 stars.
Signature Rebuttal Control
Mel's signature relic. It reduces a spell's cost, draws cards, and creates copies. When optimized by cutting other spells from the deck, it consistently targets 'Rebuttal', enabling a powerful control loop.- Adds copies of Mel to the deck and reduces the cost of 'Rebuttal', ensuring you always have access to her primary removal tool.
Provides extra mana to fuel her expensive spell-slinging turns, allowing for an earlier 'Rebuttal' cast.
Strategy
This build focuses on maximizing Mel's champion spell, 'Rebuttal'. By cutting other spells from your deck during the adventure, 'Searing Brilliance' will consistently hit 'Rebuttal', making it cheap and abundant. This allows you to control the board by removing high-threat units regardless of their stats while dealing Overwhelm damage to the Nexus.
Chemtech Scaling
Duplicates all spells once you reach 6 mana. This synergizes with her spell-heavy kit to wipe boards and burn the Nexus rapidly in the mid-to-late game.
Refills spell mana every round, which is critical for reaching the 6-mana threshold while still interacting with the board.- Provides deck consistency and champion spell cost reduction, ensuring you have fuel for the Chemtech turns.
Strategy
A more traditional control build that aims to stall until mana 6. Once Chemtech Duplicator is active, Mel's spells become devastatingly efficient. This build is safer for high-health encounters like the Baron adventure where burst damage might fall short, though it is slower than the Chase Gun variant.
Free-to-Play Control
- Provides necessary mana sustain to cast Mel's expensive spells.
Generates a fleeting copy of 'Rebuttal' every round, ensuring you always have removal available.
Protects Mel from removal, which is vital as she has no inherent protection and low stats.
Strategy
A solid setup for players without Epic relics. It relies on 'Archangel's Staff' to fund a 'Rebuttal' every turn generated by 'The Grand General's Counterplan'. This allows for consistent removal and board control, though it lacks the explosive speed of the Epic builds.
Other Relic Options
Synergizes well with 'Searing Brilliance' to draw and discount specific spells, making drafting 3 or 4-cost spells very high value.
Allows Mel to attack safely on Turn 1 to generate her spell without dying, addressing her fragility.
A viable alternative for increasing spell damage, particularly useful against 'Tough' enemies in adventures like Lissandra.
Avoid 'Big Guns' as it is generally outclassed by other damage options. 'Crownguard Inheritance' is also considered weak on her as she does not rely on attacking to win.
Constellation
Mel is extremely mana-hungry and feels incomplete at lower star levels. Her power curve is steep, with significant spikes at 3 and 5 stars.
Sacrifice for Progress
When you kill a unit with a spell, deal 1 to all enemies and the enemy Nexus.
Strength & Strategy
+1 Starting Mana. When you play a damaging spell, increase the damage dealt by other copies of it Everywhere by 1.
Sacrifice for Progress II
When you kill a unit with a spell, deal 2 to all enemies and the enemy Nexus.
Gemcrafting
When you play a spell, grant a random ally in hand +1|+1.Review
Widely considered underwhelming. The stat buff to a unit in hand is often irrelevant to her spell-focused game plan and feels like a wasted slot.
Manaflow
Game Start: Get a mana gem.Review
A massive power spike. The extra Mana Gem is essential for playing Mel on Turn 1 or 2 comfortably. Without this, her early game is incredibly awkward and often requires sacrificing units to bank mana.
Soul's Reflection
When you play a spell, create a Fleeting copy of it in hand, once per spell each round.Review
While powerful, it receives mixed reviews because the copied spells retain their full mana cost. It is best utilized in the 'Infinite Warning Shots' build where the generated spells are 0-cost, or in conjunction with cost-reduction powers. Without specific synergies, it can feel clunky.
Gameplay Tips
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Manage Hand Size: Mel's builds, especially those using Dreadway Chase Gun, can rapidly fill your hand with Warning Shots and generated spells. Be careful not to burn key cards by over-drawing.
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The Gloom Anti-Synergy: Avoid the power "Your spells deal damage in the form of Gloom." This power prevents Mel's star power (which deals damage to enemies when a unit is killed by a spell) and her Spell Overwhelm from triggering on enemy units, effectively breaking her kit.
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Sacrificial Strategy: In many builds, Mel is more valuable as a recurring summon effect than a unit on the board. Don't be afraid to let her die or trade into enemies if you have Echoing Spirit and another copy in hand to replay her for more Warning Shots or Rebuttals.
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Unitless Board Weakness: Mel struggles against empty enemy boards because she cannot target units to trigger her Overwhelm damage or level-up condition. In these scenarios, you may need to rely on direct burn spells or slow-play until the AI summons a unit.
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Rebuttal Usage: Her champion spell, Rebuttal, is an excellent answer to high-stat units in Nightmare adventures because it destroys them regardless of their health. Prioritize cutting other spells at the Healer to ensure your relics target this spell consistently.