THE PINECONE GUIDE TO THE NATURALIST
This guide uses Flamethrower49's Basic Outline, which is ironic considering what Flamethrowers do to Pinecones. These guides are a community effort and if you can provide any suggestions or constructive criticism, I will modify them accordingly.
Best Attack: Threatening Stomp
Best Team Support: Indomitable Force
Best Personal Support: Natural-Born Vigor, Beastial Shift
Primary Damage Type: Melee
Secondary Damage Type: Toxic
Worst Card: Shifter's Strength
Nemesis: None Yet
Vengeance is chock-full of heroes who are useful no matter what the Villain or Environment throws at them. The Naturalist is no exception to this; his three forms give him an answer to anything. Few heroes can rival Tempest in this regard; the Naturalist is one of them.
The Crocodile:
Advantages: Lots of damage, most non-Crocodile cards are still useful.
Weaknesses: Limited card draw and no healing.
In Crocodile Form, the Naturalist plays very similarly to Ra or Haka, putting out a ton of damage and giving himself damage boosts. The ability to put out 3 damage automatically is better than most base powers, and is one of the things that makes the Naturalist so dangerous early on. The increased damage also means that you can use Rhino and Gazelle cards and they will still be very useful.
Feral Fury, usually a weak 2 damage attack, becomes 6 in Crocodile form! Never use this outside of Crocodile form, but a 6 damage one shot is nothing to scoff at, so save this for just the right moment. The Predator's Eye is a good card in of itself—able to essentially Galvanize anyone who is going after the villain character card. In Crocodile form, playing it also gives you card draw or some extra damage. Cornered Beast is a decent card; it's great against some villains, useless against others. However, in Crocodile form, it gives you the potential for even more damage increases for you and your allies. It will still only be useful against villains who are reliant on minions, relics, or the like, but it will annihilate those villains. This is one of the few Crocodile cards that can be worth having out even in Rhino or Gazelle form.
The Rhinoceros:
Advantages: Near-impossible to kill, can take (and reduce) damage for allies.
Weaknesses: Most non-Rhino cards are severely diminished in this form.
In Rhino form, the Naturalist plays almost like the Scholar, drawing cards and redirecting damage to himself. He has automatic armor, and two healing cards, making him extremely survivable. In addition, his base power gives you two extra cards, which is the best card-draw power in the game. If you get a bad draw, go into Rhino form on your first turn and he'll fix that problem for you.
Resilient Hide adds a shield against 1 damage attacks (which, effectively blocks 2-damage attacks, as you already have a -1 damage taken modifier), which is meh on it's own, but it also gives the Naturalist sustainable health regeneration. If you're planning to continue being the Rhino for a couple of turns, this card is very helpful. Threatening Stomp is the first of the Naturalist's redirecting cards, and against Villains with few minions this can be very useful. Against the others, the redirect probably won't save your allies from too many headaches, so don't be afraid to play this in Crocodile form for 5 damage. Indomitable Force, on the other hand, is a great redirect card no matter what enemies are out there—not only does it send all damage your way, it also gives you additional armor. A -2 damage taken modifier, coupled with a very solid 29 base health, makes the Naturalist better at taking damage than any other hero, and your allies will greatly appreciate the reprieve.
The Gazelle:
Advantages: Ongoing removal, card manipulation, card draw, health restoration.
Weaknesses: No inherent boost, rarely a form worth maintaining for more than two turns.
The Gazelle doesn't play like any other hero in particular; rather it rounds out the Naturalist's skill set. It is the least common form you'll play, but that doesn't mean it's the least useful. The base power is to heal yourself 3. Most powers that heal only the user are not that useful, but healing 3 is a cut above most such powers, and switching to the Gazelle to heal after taking the brunt as the Rhino can be a good strategy if you don't have Natural Form's Power already in play. The Gazelle does have the least useful form card however, as it does not have a passive boost.
Crafty Assault is a good card in either the Crocodile or the Gazelle forms. In the Crocodile form, it hits 3 targets for 3 damage, which is not bad at all. In Gazelle form, it hits a little lighter, but takes out two ongoings. Don't be afraid to play this as the Crocodile if it is useful for the situation, but try to hold it for when the Gazelle half of the effect really shines. Hyperactive Senses is a good card, being able to manipulate both an enemy and an ally (and/or the environment) simultaneously. In Gazelle form, it gains to ability to discard the top card of two decks, which can range from very useful (getting Tachyon an extra burst, killing a nasty villain card before it comes out, etc.), to very useless. The first effect of this card is by far the better, so don't necessarily save it for when you go Gazelle. Environmental Allies is another situational card. It's best played with the Gazelle, as it gives all heroes a Danger Sense. However, the problem with this card is that you usually aren't going to be staying in Gazelle form for too long, and when you are no longer in Gazelle form it can hurt you more than it helps. Don't play this except in Gazelle form, and even then use caution.
Varied Form Effects:
Primal Charge is a good card... except as the Rhino. 4 cards is amazing; 4 damage is decent; 2 damage is pathetic. This is the Rhino's main weakness: that he can't use many cards that are not solely Rhino effectively. The next card—Bestial Shift—suffers from the same problem. It works great for the Gazelle and Crocodile, giving them each, essentially, a free use of their base power and a free extra power. For the Crocodile it's even better, as the damage is toxic and increased by one. For the Rhino though, it only gives another coat of armor, which will rarely be used to it's full effect as it only lasts one turn and it takes up your play phase, so you can't play it in conjunction with a damage redirect card. Note that, while used in Gazelle or Crocodile Form, if you use it to activate your Transform base power, you become whatever form you changed to before Bestial Shift resolves. This means you can activate the text for both the form you were in and the text of the form you changed to (for example, dealing 4 toxic damage as the Crocodile, Transforming into the Rhino, and then activating the Rhino text for an extra suit of armor). You can actually shift through both the Crocodile and Gazelle forms into the Rhino form, thereby activating all of Bestial Shift's text, the drawback is that you can only do this if you are planning to end up as the Rhino. Alternatively, Beastial Shift can be used to activate both your current form's base power and your Natural Form's Power, or Cornered Beast. Natural Form's Power is a useful card for the Gazelle and the Rhino, giving each of them and ability similar to the other one's base power, adding to the utility of either. Less so with the Crocodile, who merely gets a sub-par AoE attack, but it's better than nothing. The Gazelle gets the best power with this card, as it can be used to help other players who lack card draw, like Expatriette or K.N.Y.F.E.. For the Rhino, it gives reliable healing, which he needs in spite of his armor. For any of the forms, this card provides a useful secondary power option if you have Natural-Born Vigor in play and you don't want to Transform this turn.
No Form Effects:
Natural-Born Vigor is an AMAZING card for the Naturalist. The ability to use two powers means seamless form transitions (and remember that you can choose which order to use the powers in, so you can use the current form's power or the one you're changing into), or to use both your form's base power in addition to the one granted by Natural Form's Power or Cornered Beast. Try to get this out as soon as possible so you don't have to waste your power phase transforming to face whatever new threats show up or which new cards you draw. In a pinch, the 4 HP can help, but only use this second effect when you absolutely need it.
Blend Into the Pack ranges from ridiculously good to completely worthless. Combine it with the Rhino and the right environment and you will literally be almost immune to damage, as will your allies. You can also use it in Crocodile form for some extra protection. If the environment is not favorable however, you can replace it with...
Shifter's Strength. It is not a terrible card, but I labeled it as the worst for a reason. The Naturalist has a lot of better card draw, except as the Crocodile. Theoretically it could be used to flush out Gazelle and Rhino cards while playing the Croc, but many of those cards are still useful with the Crocodile's damage boost, and you never know when something might come up that warrants a form switch. If you need to switch to the Rhino right after you discarded all your Rhino cards, you'll be stuck. The Gazelle and Rhino might not mind getting rid of each other's (and the Crocodile's) cards, but the same problem of “what if something comes up that requires a different form” applies. And honestly, if you have all those cards in other forms, why not just shift to that form? I know there are cases where Shifter's Strength can be useful, but they are few and far between.
Weaknesses:
The only weakness the Naturalist has independent of his forms is his lack of environment removal. It's good that he's turning over a new leaf, but sometimes in this game the environment is just as unforgiving to the heroes as he was to the environment when he was polluting it. Admittedly this is not a huge weakness, and the Naturalist has cards to mitigate the environment's detrimental effects. But I had to put something in this section, right?
Teamups:
Any team will appreciate the Crocodile's high damage output. Squishier characters will love the Rhino for his ability to absorb damage. The Naturalist also won't mind Setback “Whoops! Sorry”ing his Forms that much.
