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Post by Cryptix on Jun 28, 2017 2:30:02 GMT
The Dark Archivist Scaverous sits in his macabre library. Around him floats the skulls of the dead, reciting the verses of the insane and the all-knowing in languages no one alive knows. The iron lich leviatates a book down from a high, forgotten shelf. The book's name is etched in Scharde, but the arcane power that courses through it makes the title unreadable. Scaverous sits down, and begins to read...
With the fixing of my second favorite subfaction in Warmahordes, I thought I might as well get off my ass and finally start that discussion series in Cryx I was going to do. Let's start with a much maligned unit of the Dark Host - the Bane Riders. What do you guys think of these changes? Are they enough to let them see play again?
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Post by Gamingdevil on Jun 28, 2017 6:24:14 GMT
I think they are. They threaten as far as Satyxis Raiders without Vengeance and you can hide a bunch of them in a forest, with one barely visible to bait your opponent into triggering it. They won't be in every list, but I do see uses for them.
They are insane with Goreshade 2 for instance, where Apparition makes them really fast. They're point cost is also perfect for putting in the theme, being exactly 20 points for a bonus.
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Kavrae
Junior Strategist
Posts: 182 
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Post by Kavrae on Jun 28, 2017 17:51:03 GMT
From my limited experience so far, they're in a good spot. The changes make them "good" at a lot of things, which allows you to define their exact role by the Warcaster or support models you take.
Having a base MAT increase instead of relying on Curse lets them spread out a bit rather than wanting to focus the same target. Throw in Tartarus (Banes get +1 attack in his control range) and a DEF debuffing warcaster or Skarre1 lets them hit high DEF models reliably, killing 5-10 per turn (impact + sword).
Their armor is solid at 18 with 5 boxes, making them all but immune to blasts and most anti-infantry tech. Adding an additional source of damage mitigation through Wraith Engine, Mortal Fear, or Death Ward can make them horribly difficult to remove.
Vengeance and the 2" reach finally gives them a respectable threat range. Death Ride, Telekinesis, or Apparition can make them a legitimate flanking threat. It does rely on them taking damage though, with is both good and bad. Good because it gives your opponent another problem to consider. Is it worth hitting them at the expense of giving them 3" of threat range? Bad because it puts the control in your opponent's hands. The additional reach will also let them play the middle of the field, attacking from behind a Bane Knight shield wall.
Their damage is decent once you factor in our large number of ARM debuffs. Parasite or Dark Shroud can be found in most armies in some form. Outside of this though, I don't think they'd work very well against hard targets. Better against medium jacks, solos, or heavy infantry. Against heavy jacks, I would rather see Bane Warriors. Against light infantry, I would rather see Soulhunters. Which is a good thing, because it gives them all defined expectations and roles.
Finally the theme... Prowl on them is ok, but not great unless you have a Ghost Walk or Cloud spamming Warcaster. In which case, they can have some annoying DEF tech on top of their armor, allowing them to get up the field a little safer on turns 1 and 2. I would rather stack armor on them though, rather than trying to split their defenses. Now on a good note, 20 points is simply beautiful for those free solos.
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Post by tarviche on Jun 29, 2017 6:03:35 GMT
Bane Riders are already Ghostly, though.
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Kavrae
Junior Strategist
Posts: 182
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Post by Kavrae on Jun 29, 2017 12:25:23 GMT
Right... not sure why I was thinking they weren't Ghostly. So just ignore that section. Prowl works perfectly fine on them.
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