Cloud Spirit Sword Sect characters and builds may seem fixed, but actually you can mix them; under most circumstances, if one character can play it, the others can, too. Lu Jianxin also inherited this characteristic of the sect, but as with most Sword sect builds, it's reliant on quality. In the current version where matches are decided in 15 rounds, how strong it is is troublesome to say.

When the Virtuoso-phase Sword Pattern Carving - Intense was buffed from Sword Intent+3 to +4, the power of Fuluist Cloud reached its peak. After dominating the ladder for almost half a season, it was nerfed with "reduce 2 ATK", and the number of bots in ladder matches decreased, too, so the transit became too difficult, and the build became sub-par.


Exchange for strength. Break through on Round 3 or 4. Since we choose Sword Intent at Virtuoso, Clear Heart will become a super Sword Slash, so at Meditation we're mainly looking for Sword Defence, Flying Fang Sword, and Thunder Sword. The qi card can be lv.2 Guard Qi (big numbers) or Qi Perfusion (higher priority with Dao Rhyme Giant Kun or with Giant Tiger Spirit Sword as a third qi consumer). Giant Tiger Spirit Sword and Thunder Fulu have decent numbers; you can make use of them based on circumstances.

How to choose between ATK+3 and Cultivation? Usually we have 0 exchanges since we rolled down in Meditation, so Epiphany is pretty much must-pick. Thunder Tribulation reduces fault tolerance, so usually we don't consider it. Cultivation+1 and ATK+3 each have advantages. Cultivation+1 lets us have an additional card to exchange after breaking through on Round 12; with no Cultivation at all, breaking through on 12 leaves seven cards (including Clear Heart); one more makes it possible to play a full deck, and makes it easier to exchange. ATK+3, on the other hand, is a noticeable strength boost; on Round 3, slot one 11 ATK Clear Heart is very, very strong, and even in Incarnation, the ATK+3 is not bad. Usually, the priority of Cultivation increases against Hua Qinrui (always 2 Cultivation), and the priority of ATK+3 increases when under high pressure during transit.

There isn't much need to exchange in Foundation. It's also possible to consume Sword Intent with Earth Evil Sword instead of Thunder Sword; Thunder Sword doubles the bonus damage, whereas Earth Evil Sword makes of the bonus both ATK and DEF; you can choose based on the enemy; if they have a faster kill, Earth Evil Sword may allow you to defend, then counter-attack.

Immortality transit is critical, so prioritize picking cards for Immortality strength. Moon Shade tends to stick useless in your hand until Incarnation, making you weaker by lowering your Cultivation, so normally we don't choose it. Flying Spirit Shade Sword tends to be immediately useful when you get it at Incarnation; there's always stuff to use the qi. On the other hand, there are too many conditions for Dharma to become useful, which are hard to satisfy immediately, so we usually don't choose it.

Clear Heart + qi + Sword Defence + Flying Fang Sword + multi-hit + random supplemental damage, and you can AFK. Miasma Fulu, Spirit Absorb Fulu, and Tri-Peak Sword, are strong cards at this stage. If Dao Rhyme Dharma, you can hold on to Pierce the Star; if Dao Rhyme Giant Kun, hold Mirror Flower.

In this stage, if you don't have Flow Cloud Chaos Sword, you pretty much can't protect your Destiny. Or if you run into Overcome, Iron Bone, Escape Plan, DEF Sword, etc. Try to pay attention to the opponent's cards. If you have Giant Kun, try to start with Qi Perfusion + Giant Kun; if you kill with Giant Kun, the DEF is wasted. Weaken Fulu and Distubing Fulu can turn defeat into victory, use them well.

When you reach Round 12, finally you can break through and spend your exchanges.

The cards to hold on to when breaking through are Clear Heart, one multi-hit card, Kun and Roc (don't want Flash Wind), (for use with Clear Heart and multi-hit) Moon Shade, and qi (for Kun and Roc). Sword Intent at this point is pretty much not kept. But that's only the idealized case. In actual matches, of the seven or eight cards remaining after breaking through, other than Clear Heart, the other core cards are three at most; supposing the other cards* are relatively poor, you can consider holding on to Sword Intent and searching for Sword Intent Surge to play transitionally. *[TL: I'm not sure whether this refers to those other core cards, or the cards other than those.]

After breaking through, first we need to understand what the core of our damage is—most of the time, it's Chasing as much as possible and killing with the second Clear Heart. Note that, in the absence of another Cloud Sword, it causes itself to Chase in the second cycle. It's pretty much Clear Heart + multi-hit, insert Moon Shade if you have it, then Chase as much as possible with Kun, Roc, and Dragon Roam. With qi cards like Cloud Dance Rhythm, it's usually more important to Chase as much as possible than to use the Sword Intent well with multi-hit, lest you're slow to kill on the second cycle; if the opponent is very tanky, it's fine to move Cloud Dance Rhythm in front of the multi-hit.

Of Chase cards, there are Kun, Roc, Rule Sky, Chain, Dragon Roam, Divine Walk; another way to help reach the second cycle is to apply Weakened with Thousand Evil or Weaken Fulu. The hard part is that there are few cards to exchange, it's hard to keep all the cards you want. Distubing Fulu is also useful at Incarnation; Clear Heart + Moon Shade + Distubing Fulu + Flying Spirit Shade Sword + Kun + Mirror Flower is very strong. Anyway, it's just few cards, hard to roll, try to prioritize Chase, if your strength is OK, you can wait for next round, no need to expend all exchanges to force Flying Spirit + Dharma.

On Round 12, as for Cloud Sword, you only need to play one of Moon Shade or Pierce the Star (or sometimes you play both if you need to play a qi card anyway); otherwise, just let Clear Heart apply to itself when it's played again.

Round 12 is undoubtedly the greatest trial of how well-practiced you are. In this round, you must continuously evolve your deck based on your exchanges and on who your opponent is, balancing between your current deck and your future potential, in less than two minutes. I can only say to keep practicing.

The fully assembled main line is definitely the Divine Walk + Clear Heart + Moon Shade + Flying Spirit Shade Sword + Dharma three-turn kill. There's also Distubing Fulu to cancel out Weakened. You can add Dragon Roam or another Divine Walk Fulu for more damage. But how can the fixed form of the main line be a plan for winning consistently? (unless you're Yan Xue Fuluist or Realm-Killing Palms Plant Master)

Against Heptastar, it's often turn-two Cide or Tiger. If Tiger, well enough, you can cancel it out with Flaw. The difficulty is Cide. If Cide skips Moon Shade, it's easy not to have enough damage; I suggest Divine Walk + Weaken Fulu + Rule Sky + Clear Heart + Moon Shade + multi-hit + Chain + damage, which defends against Cide on two and four. If it's Divine Walk + Strike Twice + Cide, then it's Divine Walk + Clear Heart + Moon Shade + Flying Spirit Shade Sword to start, then Rule Sky + Thousand Evil or multi-hit, Chain + multi-hit or Thousand Evil or Dharma. Any of Rule Sky or Chain can be substituted by Dragon Roam, which has the advantage of not costing qi; the advantage of Rule Sky / Chain is that it doesn't consume Sword Intent. The specific sequencing depends on both sides' positioning; try to line Thousand Evil up against Five Thunders. You can also use Soul Requiem Fulu against Yao Ling Fuluist; with insufficient Divine Walk Fulu and Heaven Hexagram upgrades, a well-upgraded Soul Requiem Fulu is hard to deal with.

Playing against Cide for many cycles [sic], note that Clear Heart and Moon Shade must be adjacent, but the other cards are flexible, for example, Rule Sky + Thousand Evil + Chain + Clear Heart + Moon Shade + Flying Spirit Shade Sword, or Rule Sky + Clear Heart + Moon Shade + Thousand Evil + Chain + Flying Spirit Shade Sword.

Against Sword sect, the grossest thing is undoubtedly Fulu Sword's Rule Sky + Thousand Evil blocking Flying Spirit Shade Sword (which you can also do in the mirror), and also, blocking Dragon Roam. If you want to win, you can only rely on Dharma or on cycling Rule Sky + Chain with Thousand Evil overwhelming the enemy with quality; I can only say, it's hard, most of the time it's won by attacking for two cycles with well-upgraded Moon Shade.

Against Long Yao Musician, since your deck already has the multi-hit to beat down DEF quickly, Long Yao with Moon Water + Mirror Flower is not scary, just lay out out all your damage, cycle more with Rule Sky + Mirror Flower + Kun + Chain etc. Don't forget that in the presence of Illusion Tune, Rule Sky doesn't cost qi; we can choose to do Rule Sky + Mirror Flower after our combo, for example, Divine Walk + Clear Heart + Moon Shade + Flying Spirit + Dharma + Rule Sky + Mirror Flower. Long Yao does not often deploy Predicament against us in practice; we have Thousand Evil and attacks, and besides Kun and Rule Sky, Dragon Roam wouldn't Chase anyway, so we don't have that many Chases in practice; and Kun also fears Ruptsprite. As for Long Yao Painter, who doesn't do anything for two turns, and doesn't block Flying Spirit Shade Sword, we aren't pressured.

Against Ice Spirit Guard Elixir, if you can do without Dharma Spirit Sword, then do without it. You can cycle with Thousand Evil and two multi-hit cards. Most Guard Elixir users have trouble with Rule Sky + Thousand Evil. If you don't have quality multi-hits, you can only gamble with Dharma Spirit Sword.

Against Five Elements, the only trouble is Combine World blocking Flying Spirit Shade Sword, otherwise they're pretty much no match for our endgame deck. The Guard Elixir positioning is also limited by their sequencing restrictions. Combine World blocking Flying Spirit Shade Sword is truly troublesome, usually we stall with Rule Sky + Thousand Evil, or rely on Dharma quality with Flaw + Dharma. Against Flame Soul Rebirth, it's enough to stall; usually they start with Circ. + Combine World + Guard Elixir (qi delay) + UWF. If they don't know that technique, you can turn-three kill directly.

Against Duan Xuan, I haven't played the matchup, so I don't know.

Classified as a variant on the basis that the transit is the same.


Transit and Dao Rhyme selection are same as Fulu Cloud. This is another reason not to choose Dao Rhyme Moon Shade, you may not necessarily choose Cloud Sword - Clear Heart at the end.

Let's first discuss the relative advantages and disadvantages. Cloud Sword reduces 6 ATK, whereas Ultimate adds 1 ATK, 1 qi, and 1 Sword Intent, so Ultimate manifests its strength earlier. Cloud Sword wants to Chase and cycle, whereas Ultimate wants to kill in the first cycle with Sword Intent and Dharma; the Clear Heart - Ultimate at the start of the second cycle can also supplement the damage. Usually, with Moon Shade, choose Cloud Sword, and with Flow Cloud Chaos Sword, choose Ultimate; with both, choose as you like.

Cards to hold on to when breaking through are Sword Intent, multi-hit, Distubing Fulu, Weaken Fulu, Kun. After breaking through, look for Rule Sky, Chain, Thousand Evil, Flying Spirit Shade Sword, Divine Walk, Dharma, Sword Intent Surge. I remember Divine Walk + Clear Heart + Flying Spirit + Dharma all lv.1 doing almost 100 damage. Like Fulu Cloud, you're short on cards this round, no need to roll too hard, just until you're strong enough for the battle. Lay out all your damage, and use a calculator to calculate the lethal turn.

It's not the same damage potential as Fulu Cloud, but Divine Walk + Clear Heart + Flying Spirit + Divine Walk + Dharma is not a bad fast kill. Most of the time, it's still Divine Walk + Clear Heart + Rule Sky + Thousand Evil + Chain + Flying Spirit + Chain + Dharma to both attack and defend, with big numbers. Usually eventually you no longer need Sword Defence, Cloud Dance Rhythm, and Sword Intent Surge. But against very tanky enemies, you might still need Sword Intent Surge to ensure damage.

Since Ultimate is Qi+3, it's possible to do Divine Walk + Weaken Fulu + Rule Sky + Thousand Evil + Chain + Clear Heart + Chain + Flying Spirit for cycling with full Chase. If you can assemble it (Thousand Evil Rule Sky at least lv.2), it's good against some cycling decks that don't add HP.

The world of Fulu Sword Intent is so boring. For counterplay, Rule Sky, Chain, Thousand Evil, Weakened, Flaw, Internal Injury, are enough. How tiring! It's enough to know how to play it. For details, see "Fulu additional ATK Sword Intent" later.

What's the strongest point of Ultimate? Probably it's absorbing Clear Heart to draw four cards to surprise the opponent and go first with a turn-three kill. If you choose all of your character-specific Immortal Fates, then absorbing Clear Heart - Ultimate will give four Incarnation-phase cards whose names contain "Sword" (all of the Incarnation-phase cardnames contain "Sword"). The standard turn-three kill line is Divine Walk + Cloud Dance Rhythm + Divine Walk + Flying Spirit + Dharma. Most of the time it can't be assembled with sufficient quality, but they're all cards we use, so it counts as a variant of Ultimate.

For detail on what you get when you absorb Clear Heart - Ultimate, see my forum post. [TL: I didn't bother to look for the forum post in question, but from what I remember being told, if you didn't upgrade Clear Heart at Incarnation, you gain two cards (presumably sect cards? IDK); if you chose Cloud Sword - Clear Heart, you gain three Cloud Sword cards; if you chose Unrestrained Sword - Clear Heart, you gain three Unrestrained Sword cards; and if you chose Clear Heart - Ultimate, you gain four Incarnation-phase cards.]

Still the same transit as Fulu Cloud, only that the Moon Shade to hold on to is Unrestrained Sword - Two instead.


Transit and Dao Rhyme still the same. I'll say it again, reserving Moon Shade is really dumb.

Super Sword Slash + Cloud Dance Rhythm, same as above; choosing Unrestrained adds 3 ATK, big number. Look for Flying Spirit, Dharma, Rule Sky, Chain, Thousand Evil; Unrestrained Sword - Two is the multi-hit for consuming Sword Intent.

The biggest difference versus Ultimate is that Unrestrained's strength is in cycling. Clear Heart + Flying Spirit + Dharma is still oft-played transitionally; the numbers are a little bit smaller, but it doesn't affect the killing speed of Dharma. Cycling requires consumption cards, and it's not mindlessly Divine Walk + Zero; Weaken Fulu is also very helpful in the early [rounds? turns?]. There's also times when you don't have Divine Walk Fulu, and there's also times when you play Soul Requiem Fulu or Spirit Absorb Fulu. Choose flexibly based on yourself and your opponent. Of course, if you mindlessly play Zero, it's probably no problem most of the time.

Divine Walk + consumption + Rule Sky + Clear Heart + Chain + Thousand Evil + Chain + Two, high scaling with Thousand Evil, favored against many slow decks. Note that Rule Sky and Thousand Evil cost 3 qi in total, and Clear Heart generates 2, so each 1 qi you get from Divine Walk Fulu supports one cycle; for more, you can play two copies of Divine Walk, or Divine Walk + Spirit Absorb Fulu, etc. But most of the time, lv.2 Divine Walk, four cycles, is enough. You just fear qi removal (Rotary Divination Hexagram, etc.); against qi removal, if you want to play Thousand Evil, you need Flying Spirit Shade Sword, Spirit Gather Citta-Dharma, Cloud Dance Rhythm; you say you have the heart of Unrestrained Sword [TL: 狂剑之心 does not appear to be the name of any card or Immortal Fate], then Divine Walk + Zero + Rule Sky + Clear Heart + Chain + Two + Chain + Two is also fine.

Overall, Unrestrained fears Predicament and fears qi removal, can use Dharma to maximize damage, a bit of a for-fun build, but still a possible form of Fulu Cloud. Know you the pain of expending all exchanges finding no Flying Spirit Shade Sword, no Flow Cloud Chaos Sword, and chipping at the opponent with Tri-Peak Sword or Thunder Sword? If you choose Unrestrained, you can use high scaling against some tanky decks (not including Antho-Echo); against slow decks like Hua Qinrui with Escape Plan, Combine World, Ice Spirit Guard Elixir, etc., Fulu Unrestrained is more advantaged than your other builds.

Still the same transit.


To start, you need to know the mechanics of Twin Dragons, Unrestrained Sword - Clear Heart, Rule Sky, Chain.

First, about Clear Heart, Rule Sky, and Chain. If Clear Heart causes Rule Sky to count as an Unrestrained Sword, Chain still doesn't count. And it's not because it's a copy effect. It's because Clear Heart's effect is a stackable buff, and the one stack was consumed by Rule Sky. By the same logic, without Chain, against Cide, if Clear Heart gets played during the first cycle and skipped during the second cycle, the card that it caused to count as Unrestrained in the first cycle will not count again as such in the second cycle, because the one buff stack was consumed.

If you play Unrestrained Sword - Twin Dragons before Clear Heart, you will gain two stacks of the buff. Example usage: Twin Dragons + Clear Heart + Cloud Dance Rhythm + Sword Intent Surge + Two; Cloud Dance Rhythm and Sword Intent Surge each use one stack. Since the buff is wasted with no effect if used on a real Unrestrained Sword card, the fastest way to use the buffs is to Chase, for example, Twin Dragons + Clear Heart + Chase + Sword Defence + Two.

That's a transitional form, if you can find Twin Dragons. Another example:

• Unrestrained Sword - Twin Dragons
• Unrestrained Sword - Clear Heart
• Sword Defence
• Thousand Evil Incantation
• Unrestrained Sword - Two
• Divine Walk Fulu
• Dharma Spirit Sword
• (Normal Attack)

Now the important point: Chain Sword Formation can use two buff stacks! (By the same logic, for Boulder Seal, Divine Brush counts twice.) Consider: Divine Walk + Twin Dragons + Rule Sky + Clear Heart + Chain + Two. You have qi, you can do Rule Sky and Chain, you can also use Thousand Evil, you can also use Dharma, that's why I call it a Fulu Cloud variant, it's more like Fulu Cloud than Fulu Unrestrained is, but it's more flexible than Fulu Cloud, with higher scaling, and it doesn't fear Flying Spirit Shade Sword getting blocked, it doesn't fear Cide skipping Moon Shade, it doesn't fear qi removal.

Game record replay code: gmakdkvq3i

Finally, a different side job. The difference between Fulu and Plant is that Fulu has Flaw and Weakened, whereas Plant has Sword Bamboo, the reliable Meditation-phase Tri-Peak Sword. The benefit of Plant Master is in the pre-Immortality transit, and in Incarnation, but since Entangling Ancient Vine was nerfed, and there are fewer rounds of Incarnation nowadays, it's hard for the advantage of Plant Master to be realized.


Likewise look for Sword Defence and Sword Bamboo. Clear Heart + qi + Sword Defence + Flying Fang Sword + multi-hit. However, the cards to hold on to are different; Sword Bamboo is a Tri-Peak Sword for starters, a good multi-hit, so you can do Clear Heart + Tri-Peak Sword [sic] + Sword Slash + Thunder Sword, etc., and substitute Flow Cloud Chaos Sword, Form-Intention Sword, etc. Similarly with Guard Qi, Qi Perfusion, Flying Fang Sword, these necessary qi cards in the middle, and the Sword-Intent-refunding Flying Fang Sword. Likewise, you can supplement damage with lv.2 Giant Tiger Spirit Sword or Thunder Sword (qi permitting).

Form-Intention Sword, Earth Evil Sword, and Leaf Shield Flower are all good cards. Form-Intention Sword can combo with a second multi-hit card.

The priority of Dharma is too much lower than with Fuluist, but Flying Spirit Shade Sword is the great core. Unless the pressure in transit is too great, Flying Spirit Shade Sword is pretty much must-pick.

Just lay out your damage. Divine Power Grass and Healing Chamomile you can eat based on circumstances. There's no particular need to save Spiritual Plant Watering; absorb when you need to absorb, otherwise, you don't need to absorb; any plant is fine to upgrade.

Up until Immortality, Plant was stronger than Fulu, but now it's weaker. Not that Fulu is strong in Immortality, but Plant is even weaker. Refer to the Fulu transit, and do your best.

The cards to hold on to when breaking through are the same as Fulu, as are the cards to look for after breaking through. The difference is that Fulu often uses Divine Walk + Dharma, whereas Plant doesn't use Dharma unless the cards you get really pull you into it. Roughly speaking, Fulu Cloud is more like Yan Xue Fuluist, whereas Plant Cloud is more like the Increase ATK Moon Shade multi-hit build. Flying Spirit Shade Sword, Kun, Mirror, cycle.

The core is still to cycle and kill with the second Clear Heart.

Note that since you want to roll, it's hard to hold on to plants. Just mindlessly exchange all side job cards except Dao Fruit and Space Spiritual Field. Even Dao Fruit is painful to hold on this round, exchange it if you really must.

Dragon Roam + Clear Heart + Moon Shade + Flying Spirit Shade Sword + Kun + Mirror Flower all lv.max is a turn-three kill, too. Each stack of Increase ATK from Divine Power Grass is worth about 10 damage. Divine Power Grass is almost unquestionably the most useful consumable plant.

Here, let's talk about another issue. Playing the multi-hit, don't be thinking so much about Flow Cloud Chaos Sword, OK? It's only an Immortality-phase transitional card. It's 1 ATK more than Flying Spirit Shade Sword, some people say, I have Moon Shade, what's wrong with using Increase ATK with Flow Cloud Chaos Sword. Actually it's quite humorous. The essence of Cloud multi-hit is attack + defense; in most cases, it's a second-cycle kill on a multi-hit attack; first-cycle kills are usually against decks that don't defend, but against those builds, if you play normally, doing Kun + Mirror Flower + Chain, they still can't beat you. Does Flow Cloud Chaos Sword have favorable matchups? Of course it does. Against Predicament and qi removal, Kun and Dragon Roam, being Chase and qi consumption, are hard to use, so you need to deploy Flow Cloud Chaos Sword and kill in one cycle; in these cases, the priority of Dharma Spirit Sword also increases. Overall, Flow Cloud Chaos Sword can be used as a counter card; in most matches, when you get Flying Spirit Shade Sword to the same upgrade level, you no longer need Flow Cloud Chaos Sword; keeping it for no reason is definitely wrong.

Since Space Spiritual Field can help cycle faster, Plant Master has many lines possible. A fancy one, for example, is Clear Heart + Rule Sky + Vine + Chain + Flying Spirit + Chain + Dharma + Field (Chain + Dharma can also be Kun + Mirror Flower). A more plain example is Clear Heart + Moon Shade + Flying Spirit + Rule Sky, then Chain + damage or Kun + Mirror Flower, with Field / Snow Lotus / Vine. Transitionally, in the absence of Moon Shade, it could be Clear Heart + Flying Spirit + Kun + Mirror Flower + Kun + Chain + Field + Field.

Another deck mostly for fun is Dragon Roam + Clear Heart + Moon Shade + Vine + Rule Sky + Vine + Chain + Vine, with the first two Vines lv.max; after the first cycle, it becomes Dragon Roam + Clear Heart + Moon Shade + Rule Sky + Chain + Vine; Vine applies Wound, and Dragon Roam consumes Sword Intent. The advantage is that despite the Vine nerf, this still Entangles continuously until the third cycle, and it's not hard for the total damage to be lethal, it'll apply a lot of Wound. In later cycles, it Entangles once every three turns (similar tempo gain to Jiang Ximing's three-moves-one-Stasis). The disadvantage is the the first cycle's Vines cost 3 qi, and Clear Heart only makes 2; pray that you don't pay for the Rule Sky, too.

For Plant Master, everything depends on Flying Spirit Shade Sword; without it, it's the other half. Overall, after assembling the build, determine your killing turn, whether it's the second cycle or the first, then consider whether to use Space Spiritual Field to go faster to the second cycle, or to use Vine to supplement damage.

Since Flying Spirit Shade Sword is the core card, if gets blocked, it's pretty much over. Though it's not to say it's completely unplayable, you could use Qi-seeking Sunflower as a poor substitute; but that's how it is, against DEF-stacking, since it's harder for Plant Master to use Dharma Spirit Sword, it's harder to deal with.

There's an unfavorable matchup, which is Anthomania Jiang Ximing being well-favored against Plant Cloud; the way for Plant Cloud to win is to kill fast with Divine Power Grass, very difficult. You could try holding on to Moon Water Sword Formation for a struggling attempt.

The biggest difference is that on Incarnation, since Cloud Sword - Clear Heart loses 6 ATK, it needs a lot of cards, but Unrestrained Sword - Clear Heart just needs one copy of Unrestrained Sword - Two, then lay out all Chases, Kun, Rule Sky, Chain, Space Spiritual Field, Dragon Roam, use what you can, fill all eight slots to transit Round 12. At the same time, since the needed cards are fewer, Plant Unrestrained more often needs to use plants to counter the opponent, such as Snow Lotus or Entangling Vine.

Plant Unrestrained is a build that has no burst. Whether it can beat the opponent depends on whether the quality can overcome the opponent, on whether your plants counter the opponent. If you can just make it to cycling, there's hope; supposing you have no plant to counter the opponent, and the opponent has high damage and Predicament for Immortals, then it's painful.

Clear Heart + Rule Sky + Two + Chain + Vine + Chain + Field + Field is the fastest kill. Though the damage is only a little over a hundred, it's enough against decks that don't defend. Against others, see whether Snow Lotus, Blood Lotus gives you advantage. You can turn one Unrestrained Sword - Zero to boost both your defense and your attack. Be careful of the number of cycles; don't miss lethal and end up playing out two Space Spiritual Fields. Or if the opponent doesn't defend, and you go slow and die when you play Clear Heart in the second cycle. Unrestrained Sword - Two in the second cycle is very high damage. As long as you judge the cycling well, it's not too hard to operate correctly, you only lose to not having the cards.

Plant Unrestrained is more for fun; the favorable matchups are where plants are favored, such as Snow Lotus being favored against Sword Intent, Blood Lotus against Dharma.

Choosing Increase ATK instead of Sword Intent trades lategame strength for transit strength and flexibility. This is mainly played by 随机乱玩胜负天定 (top Mu Yifeng player).


It's really a lot like multi-hit Cloud. Since we don't choose Sword Intent at Virtuoso, the point of exchanging for Sword Intent in Meditation is diminished. But Sword Bamboo is still good with Increase ATK, so don't throw it away lightly, even with just 1 Increase ATK, it's 12 damage. Play whatever garbage you draw, and wait. It's fine to exchange a few times to protect your Destiny.

It feels like ATK+3 can win until Immortality without exchanging. Do you understand the power of a self-contained 12 ATK?

Since the Sword Intent comes with 2 reduced ATK, and the benefit is tied to how many hits your multi-hit card does, whereas the Increase ATK doesn't reduce the ATK, the Increase ATK is better numerically. The advantage of Sword Intent is smooth transit and the advantage with fast-killing deck [TL: not sure whether this refers to self or opponent]; Increase ATK's even damage output often gives the opponent the full benefit of all of their DEF cards. But it can't be denied that, when saving exchanges and playing garbage, the numerical superiority of Increase ATK outweighs the other two points.

When breaking through, remember to hold on to Spirit Coercion, Necessity, and Mirror Flower; it makes it easier to build in Immortality.

Roll, look for Moon Shade, Kun, Mirror Flower, Flow Cloud Chaos Sword; use Spirit Coercion, Necessity, and Mirror Flower. Play whatever deals the most damage. The Qi+2 is not important; you'll definitely get value from it, but drawing cards and competing on cultivation is also fine.

In Incarnation, the difference between the two builds is very clear. Sword Intent puts a multi-hit after Clear Heart to consume the Sword Intent, then tries to cycle fast and kill on the multi-hit in the second cycle. Increase ATK can follow Clear Heart with any cards, Spirit Coercion, Step Lightly, Necessity, Flying Spirit Shade Sword.

So on breaking through, the priority of Flash Wind increases, Clear Heart + Moon Shade + Cloud Sword + Flash Wind + multi-hit is also often played; mono-Cloud-Sword transit is fine, even. This Clear Heart is comparable to Dragon Roam, but unlike Dragon Roam, it doesn't worry about getting blocked. And with four Chases, Dragon Roam + Clear Heart in the second cycle is more damage than the usual Dragon Roam + Moon Shade. At the same time, you can play like multi-hit Cloud, Dragon Roam + Clear Heart + Moon Shade + Flying Spirit + Rule Sky + Mirror Flower + Kun + Chain (Dragon Roam can also move to slot eight), for two cycles.

Sword Intent pretty much beats Increase ATK in the first cycle. Increase ATK uses multi-hit cards like Flow Cloud Chaos Sword more; as long as it's enough hits, it's not just a dream for one cycle of Increase ATK's benefit 薄纱 [TL: ?] multi-hit. Someone may ask, what use is Plant Master here? Well, the sect cards are primary, and the side job cards are secondary. You can do Snow Lotus into Mirror Flower, Vine to gain tempo, eat a bunch of plants in the finals to crush the opponent, all fine; in actual matches, farm with Space Spiritual Field and use plants according to the situation.

The O.G. multi-hit Cloud.


Same as multi-hit Cloud with other characters, play whatever garbage you draw, fine to exchange a few times for strength. ATK+3 and/or Increase ATK are both excellent for battle strength, so choose them if you feel pressure, then make up the Cultivation at Immortality; it's always Round 12 breakthrough anyway.

Roll, same as the above multi-hit Cloud.

Likewise, see the above. The advantage of Elixirist is undoubtedly Ice Spirit Guard Elixir; Elixir multi-hit Cloud's favored matchups are where Ice Spirit Guard Elixir is favored. Of course, there is a baseline strength; with sufficient quality, you can beat many decks.

But it's still painful to go second with multi-hit Cloud, especially against Heptastar's Polaris's Astral Move - Tiger. But against Duan Xuan, we become multi-hit Cloud who goes first. I've played this before when Crash Fist was popular, and did fine, Guard Elixir too good.

I don't want to write it. Refer to the two Unrestrained chapters yourself, and it should be enough for transit. The final build is Zero + Clear Heart + Meru ... Two + Meru .... You can also play Motionless Tutelary Formation and other such consumption cards. There's also Meru, skipping Rule Sky, then Chain to copy the skipped Rule Sky. There is less need for Qi Forging at Immortality.

Fulu DEF, too, was once very powerful. Since Mu Yifeng and Lu Jianxin were dominating the ladder, and I helped make an uproar over Spirit Absorb Fulu, Spirit Absorb Fulu and Spiritage Incantation were nerfed at the same time, and now the build is relatively weak.


Play garbage, counter-position, probably reach Immortality with around 50 Destiny.


Round 8, play whatever, put together a little strength; mainly you're short on cards, not necessarily filling all eight slots.

Playing this kind of qi-DEF, first you want to know where your damage is coming from, then find qi cards and the other pieces to ensure your strength. Typically there are the following plans (taking it that the consumption cards are qi cards (Spirit Gather, Spirit Absorb, CentiBird), the number depends on the situation; sometimes you need to play one consumption card then quickly make DEF or play Kun, then play a consumption card later so that you can cycle, or just stick to the one consumption card, and end the battle in two cycles).

• Moon Water + Spiritage Incantation + Clear Heart + Kun + Mirror Flower + Kun; Kun can also be Roc, Mirror Flower can also be Reflexive Sword or Giant Whale Spirit Sword, etc. Moon Water can be in slot eight to stack DEF in the second cycle.
• Spiritage Incantation + Roc + Clear Heart + Kun + Mirror Flower + Kun. Full Chase, cycling, make sure you have enough qi in the middle; the damage is mainly from the Chase cards and Clear Heart.
• Spiritage Incantation + Clear Heart + Raven + Egret + Pierce the Star. In the absence of Chase, relying on big numbers from Clear Heart and Raven. For the second cycle, Egret immediately after Clear Heart and Raven. Egret can instead be Giant Whale, Roc, Reflexive Sword, Mirror Flower, etc. other damage cards.

Overall, the damage cards are Clear Heart, Kun, Roc, Reflexive Sword, Mirror Flower, Egret, Whale; the qi cards are Spiritage Incantation, Pierce the Star, Spirit Gather Citta-Dharma, CentiBird; Raven is used rather occasionally, usually in lieu of Chase. Choose the cycle appropriately according to the cards you get; play more, practice is best.

If you know how to transit Immortality, Incarnation is relative simpler. It's pretty much just based on what cards you get, and the opponent's card positions.

Cultivation is a possible choice when you don't have Pierce the Star. The benefit of choosing Cloud Sword - Clear Heart is too low except when triggered by Clear Heart (like a post-action), and now Clear Heart's numbers aren't too high, and the benefit of the post-action is only noticeable when you're short on Chases.

For Incarnation, you must understand, Pierce the Star Chases and adds qi, and the value of upgrading Egret / Dharma is quite high. With Divine Walk Fulu, five-turn Dharma doesn't require much quality, and you can also cycle with Pierce the Star + Egret + Spiritage Incantation + Raven; choose flexibly.

More often, you won't get cards, and you won't hit in Immortality, that's how it is with DEF, there's no solution, it's not consistent. In matches full of human players, since you become strong in Immortality, this build is better.

In theory, Elixir DEF is stronger in transit, and Fulu DEF has a better chance to place first. The difference is not great, when you don't hit, you don't hit. The biggest difference is Resurrection Elixir and Enlightenment Elixir. In matches full of human players, it will often be easier to do well with Elixir DEF. But it's just scrounging rank points.

How to play is not much different from Fulu DEF; change the consumption card to Spiritage Elixir, and Spiritage Incantation to Transforming Spirits Rhythm, Spirit Coercion, etc.

Formation DEF's strength is in cycling: Meru + ... + Clear Heart + Pierce the Star + Raven, a peerless two-move cycle. You can also use Spiritage Formation with Pierce the Star + Dharma. The transit and assembly is similar to Elixir / Fulu. The problem is that it's hard to assemble, yet the favorable matchups are relatively few.

One time, I played a new transit, Sword Intent+4 at Virtuoso, DEF at Immortality, Cloud at Incarnation, roll down at Virtuoso for multi-hit and Endless Sword Formation; frankly, the strength was questionable, I'll stop teaching, it's enough to understand that this build exists.

Don't ask me why not Ultimate, Ultimate plus DEF in 90% of situations is trolling. As for Foundation-phase DEF, there's value, but not enough; DEF needs to be lined up against the opponent's damage, I can only say that this DEF is not as good as 1 Cultivation, DEF build rolls down at Immortality, this kind of Immortal Fate that gives strength in transit to Immortality has too little meaning, to allow lategame battles to be impacted for the sake of this little DEF? Scarce indeed, DEF Sword played well is stronger than anything else in Immortality. In Immortality, only with Moon Water, Clear Heart, Mirror Flower, is the benefit of the DEF relatively apparent, not easily indeed.

I don't all that much recommend playing Sword Intent.


There are two ways to transit this period.

The first is to stick in Meditation, looking for lv.max Sword Slash Sword Defence, Qi Perfusion Flying Fang Sword Thunder Sword and break through, then go directly from Meditation to Immortality. The second is to look for lv.2 Sword Slash Sword Defence, then break through exchanging all the way to Immortality, using Contemplate Spirits Rhythm, Cloud Dance Rhythm, even Form-Intention Sword, to supplement Sword Intent.

If you don't know how to stick in Meditation, read my Lin Xiaoyue Sword Intent guide. The difference here is that with Fulu, we can't necessarily always get lv.max Sword Slash Sword Defence; often we don't get it until Round 8; so it's not bad to break through on time, the painful part is when you don't find any Sword Intent cards afterward, Sword Intent and Unrestrained Sword are too much alike, too few substitutions possible, easy to be missing cards when forced.

These are all phases in which to find Sword Intent cards. Play whatever Sword Intent you have, whatever optimizes the damage. OK to expend all exchanges each round. It's possible you might be breaking directly through to Immortality instead of spending time here.

Distubing Fulu has the highest priority. What's unique about Clear Heart as your Sword Intent consumer is that it has extremely high base damage (it maxes out at 46 on Round 16), so Distubing Fulu is better than Sword Intent Surge.

Now with the additional ATKs, Clear Heart costs 1 qi; Flying Fang Sword also costs 1 qi, so in total, 2. Our qi card is usually Qi Perfusion: Sword Slash + Sword Defence + Qi Perfusion + Flying Fang + Clear Heart. Cloud Dance Rhythm can replace it directly (unless the opponent has DEF), Contemplate Spirits Rhythm only makes 1 qi, lv.1 Contemplate Spirits Rhythm is not directly usable, unless you have Distubing Fulu: Sword Slash + Sword Defence + Contemplate Spirits Rhythm + Distubing Fulu + Clear Heart. Therefore, don't merge two copies of Contemplate Spirits Rhythm: Sword Slash + Contemplate Spirits Rhythm + Contemplate Spirits Rhythm + Flying Fang + Clear Heart.

At this period, Clear Heart deals over thirty damage, with four hits of Sword Intent. Even with lv.2 Sword Slash Sword Defence 6 Sword Intent, it can turn-five kill opponents who don't defend (Sword Slash + Sword Defence + Qi Perfusion + Flying Fang + Clear Heart). Of course, the more damage, the better, but most of the times, it's turn-five killing opponents who don't defend. Turn-four requires particular quality, for example, lv.max Sword Slash + lv.2 Cloud Dance Rhythm + Flying Fang + Clear Heart; or Sword Slash + Contemplate Spirits Rhythm + Distubing Fulu + Clear Heart (lv.1 Contemplate Spirits Rhythm is OK).

For how many turns to combo, naturally you must scout your opponents; against DEF, against Astral Move - Tiger, you can build up for more turns, or else go faster to dodge the defensive moves. Against Dive, Iron Bone, Moon Water, etc., it's truly troublesome, pretty much a matter of luck. A final tip, since you're often short on cards in this phase, especially in Round 8, you can play Normal Attack(s) at the beginning in order to go slower; you can also Clear Heart first and put Sword Intent at the end, and play cards in the middle if you have them, else Normal Attack(s).

After breaking through on Round 12 and choosing Ultimate, Flying Fang Sword is naturally still interim usable, still Sword Slash + Sword Defence + Qi Perfusion + Flying Fang + Clear Heart, which is the main use of sticking in Meditation for lv.max Sword Slash Sword Defence; at this point, Sword Slash is 6, lv.max Flying Fang is 14, Clear Heart is 22 + 5*4 = 42, 8 Sword Intent is 48 bonus damage, for a total of 110, pretty much lethal in five turns. If lv.2 Sword Slash Sword Defence, with no Cloud Dance Rhythm Contemplate Spirits Rhythm to make 3 qi, nor Distubing Fulu, it's probably not lethal in five turns.

Flying Fang Sword is temporary; if you have Distubing Fulu, and the opponent is not one of those extremely tanky, you can throw Flying Fang Sword away.

Sword Slash + Sword Defence + Cloud Dance Rhythm + Distubing Fulu + Clear Heart, with 10 Sword Intent, Clear Heart is 44 + 21*4 = 128. Sword Slash + Sword Defence + Distubing Fulu + Divine Walk Fulu + Clear Heart, 8 Sword Intent, 42 + 18*4 = 114. Sword Slash + Cloud Dance Rhythm + Distubing Fulu + Clear Heart, 6 Sword Intent, 49 + 15*4 = 99.

Sword Slash deals damage, too, I just didn't include it, but don't forget when you're playing! From these numbers, you can see that with Distubing Fulu, as long as we have a little bit of Sword Intent, it can kill. Most of the cards we need are all from earlier phases; the Incarnation cards we want are Divine Walk Fulu, Rule Sky, Chain, Thousand Evil.

[Summary: Compared to XIII. Fulu, additional ATK, additional ATKs, Ultimate, this version is slightly less damage before Incarnation, but Sword Slash + Sword Defence + Qi Perfusion + Flying Fang Sword + Clear Heart is still lethal during Immortality. The advantage is that in Incarnation, you can turn-three kill with something like Divine Walk Fulu + Distubing Fulu + Sword Slash + Clear Heart. (There are other variations with Contemplate Spirits Rhythm, Thousand Evil Incantation, Dragon Roam, etc.) The disadvantage is that if you need to do a bigger combo with more Sword Intent, it's less damage.]