Rush vs Stall — Pick a Fight Tempo in Guildrun

Most Guildrun boards do not fail because you “needed more Attack.” They fail because you bought two clocks.

One clock wants the fight short and loud. The other wants the fight messy and long. Rush and Stall are those clocks. If you keep both half-wound, your relics look good on paper and do nothing in the replay.

This page is for Demo 0.5.7. It will not list every Rush relic. It will help you answer one shop question: are we racing, or are we waiting?

Jump to the databases when you need names: Rush, Stall, Relics. If you just wiped and are not sure why, start with Why did I wipe? instead.

The short version

Rush is a burst window. Something on your team “goes Rush,” and for a few seconds your board hits harder / faster / pays on-kill lines. Acceleration-style relics literally ask you to trigger Rush N times this run. If you only Rush once per fight, those counters crawl.

Stall is delay and control. Frost, Poison clouds, taunts, shield fields, “abilities trigger sooner after Stall” — the pack is supposed to stay on the map long enough for your plan to cook. Deceleration relics want Stall triggers the same way Acceleration wants Rush.

You can own heroes that mention both tags (Nyx, Tilly, Irini). That does not mean your shop should feed both. Shop identity is stricter than kit text.

How a fight feels when Rush is working

You will recognize it without opening a spreadsheet:

Your carry wakes up early — Attack Speed or Rush windows stack, kills start a chain.
On-kill Shard / Rush payoffs actually fire (not once as a joke).
The scary pack dies while your frontliner is still standing, not after a two-minute grind.

Typical shapes: protected Nyx reset trains, Reyna / Logan contact finishers, Kai style Rush fronts, Duelist boards that live for the window.

Rush dies when:

The carry eats the opener and never starts the window.
You drafted Rush payoffs but nobody reliably starts Rush.
You “diversified” into Stall Uniques that want the fight to last forever.

How a fight feels when Stall is working

Different movie:

Enemies stick on a tank or inside a field (Pollen, Gustav, Skorn taunt).
DoTs and Shields matter in the middle of the fight, not only on contact.
Stall counters on Deceleration relics tick up because control actually happened.

Typical shapes: Tank / Mystic walls, Poison–Frost loops, shield peels, boards that win by not dying while status does the job.

Stall dies when:

Packs delete you in three seconds — there is nothing to “stall.”
You bought Stall engines on a glass race team.
You keep taking Rush Ascendancy greed that only pays if the fight already ended.

The shop mistake that looks smart

Offer screen shows a juicy Rush Unique and a juicy Stall Unique. Both are “high rarity.” Both have keywords you “have somewhere.”

If you take both without a tempo decision, you did not get value — you rented confusion. Next fight one of them will look dead, and you will blame RNG.

Better habit: after every shop, say out loud (or in your head):

This run’s clock is Rush / Stall.

Then skip the other clock’s luxury pieces unless they are cheap enablers that do not fight your plan.

How to decide which clock you are on

Use the board you already drafted, not the fantasy you wish you drafted.

Lean Rush if two or more are true:

Your carry wants Attack Speed, kill resets, or short windows (Nyx, many Duelists).
Your relics already say “Trigger Rush…” or “On Rush…” / “For Rush (1)…”.
Fights end because something explodes, not because Poison finished a tank.

Lean Stall if two or more are true:

Your frontliner is the point (Pimenta, Rowan, Skorn, Ming).
Your Mystics want seconds inside a zone or after Stall shields.
Your relics already say “Trigger Stall…” or “After Stall…”.

If you are stuck in the middle: pick the clock that matches your next hard node. Challenge coming and your carry is the win condition? Rush, and buy them a wall so they live to Rush. Act packs shredding you before DoTs matter? You do not have Stall yet — buy survival first, then Stall, or admit you are a Rush board that needed an opener tank.

Mixing — when it is fine, when it is cope

Fine:

A Stall tank buying time so a Rush carry can cast once. The shop still mostly feeds the carry’s clock; the tank is a tool, not a second Deceleration tree.
Dual-tag heroes whose Rank path commits one way. Read the specialization — do not buy both trees “because the hero can.”

Cope:

One Assassin, one Mystic, and you alternate Rush and Stall Uniques every shop “to stay flexible.”
Taking Alignment-style “Rush or Stall” payoffs as permission to never choose. Those help hybrids that already trigger something; they do not invent a plan.

Relic reading in one breath

Acceleration family ≈ Rush homework: trigger count, longer Rush, on-Rush buffs.
Deceleration family ≈ Stall homework: trigger count, faster Stall abilities, after-Stall Shields / Poison.

If you cannot point at a hero who will create that trigger this fight, put the relic back. More detail on banners vs engines: Reading relic offers. Spend order when Shards are tight: Shop order.

A dumb-simple mid-run check

Watch one replay and answer only this:

Did we win because damage spiked early? → protect Rush; stop buying Stall luxury.
Did we win because the pack got stuck and melted later? → feed Stall; stop buying Rush Ascendancy greed.
Did we lose before either story started? → that is opener / placement, not “need both keywords.” Fix the wipe checklist first.

FAQ

Is Rush always better for climbing?

No. Rush feels flashy. Stall clears content that punishes glass boards. Difficulty cares whether your clock finished — not which buzzword you liked.

Can one hero be my whole Rush plan?

Sometimes, if they start Rush every fight and you protect them. One tourist Rush relic on a Stall board still usually fails.

What if the shop only offers the “wrong” clock?

Reroll if you can. Otherwise take a flexible Common enabler or leave. Forcing the wrong Unique to “use the shop” is how clocks break.

Where do I browse pieces?

Rush keyword and Stall keyword list related relics and abilities. Hero pages’ how-to-play notes tell you which fantasy that unit actually wants.