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Post by apoc2148 on Apr 17, 2018 18:53:21 GMT
Calaban was one of my favorite warlocks in MK2 and I want to pick him back up in MK3. I've already started a modded sculpt for him but now it is time to work on list building so what better way than to dissect what makes Calaban tick. Below is my breakdown of his abilities and what models would benefit his play style along with a handful of lists I'm going to try over the next several months.
C&Cs welcome!
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Post by apoc2148 on Apr 17, 2018 18:53:39 GMT
Stats: SPD STR MAT RAT DEF ARM FURY HEALTH 6 6 5 6 14 16 7 15
Stat Thoughts: Calaban has mid-line stats for any caster. He can get up to ARM 18 with a bull snapper which will help him survive most low pow shooting, but more often than not he will want to be near the back lines slinging his spells through the two arc nodes that Blindwater Congregation finally has access too.
Abilities: Tough: Roll a 5 or 6 and you survive and killing blow, heal 1 hp and are knocked down. Minion/Gatorman Warlock: Will work for Legion, Circle, Skorne and Trollbloods. Can only have Gatorman warbeast in his battlegroup. Amphibious: Treats shallow water as normal terrain, gains concealment and doesn’t block LOS while completely within shallow water. Dark Power: The cherry on top! Gain an additional die on magic attack/damage rolls and discard the lowest.
Weapons: Heart Stopper: RNG 10” POW 10 enemy models disabled by this attach cannot make a tough check. This magical gun comes with a nifty ability called Grave Door. It allows you to take control of an enemy model destroyed by this attack, change its facing and channel through it for the rest of the turn.
Bite: RNG 0.5” P+S 11, chomp chomp chomp, non-magical.
Carcass: RNG 2” P+S 11 magical melee attack with Life Trader, allowing you to take 1 point of damage to gain an additional damage die against the model hit. This can only be done once per attack.
Weapon thoughts: Heart stopper is a situationally useful weapon that can allow you to pick off outlying models and gain an arc node for the remainder of the turn. However, choose your target carefully since when the model destroyed becomes a friendly model to you, any enemy model engaging it will stop you from being able to channel spells through it. Carcass can become a pseudo-weaponmaster for the cost of 1 hp. But with Calaban’s low mat it would be difficult for him to get much use of out of it. A good last ditch effort weapon.
Spells: Bone Shaker: Cost 2 RNG 8” POW 12 OFF: Yes UP: No. If it boxes a living/undead non-warlock/caster warrior model you can take control of the model, make a full advance ignoring free strikes and make a single melee attack. The controlled model is then RFP’ed.
Carnivore: Cost 3 RNG 6” POW – OFF: No UP: Yes. Target model/unit gains +2 to attack rolls against living models and when the model/unit boxes a living model it is RFP’ed and the caster heals a D3 health.
Hex Blast: Cost 3 RNG 10” POW 13 AOE 3” OFF: Yes UP: No. On a direct hit, enemy upkeeps and animi expire on model/unit.
Occultation: Cost 2 RNG 6” OFF: No UP: Yes. Target friendly faction model/unit gains Stealth. Models are not affected while out of formation.
Parasite: Cost 3 RNG 8” OFF: Yes UP: Yes. Target model/unit suffers -3 ARM and the caster gains +1 ARM.
Spell thoughts: A whole host of buffing and debuffing spells that would make any cryx caster envious. Most are fairly self-explanatory, hex blast is his main nuke with the added benefit of stripping off upkeeps/animi on direct hits, can be used to remove upkeeps on friendly models but with Dark power it almost guarantees the model hit will die. Occultation gives a model/unit stealth, nice to have to avoid gunlines or to keep Calaban safe during overly aggressive turns. Parasite helps break high arm targets along with giving Calaban a small arm buff.
Carnivore gives a nice boost to mat against living enemy models and healing Calaban. However, since it RFPs on boxed it will stop Calaban from gaining a fury/casting a spell during his feat turn.
Bone shaker is an interesting spell that can get more use now with the access to cheap arc nodes via the Bone shrine. This spell can allow you to potentially clear two models off the board.
Feat: Death Harvest: When a friendly faction model in Calaban’s control area destroys an enemy model, Calaban can gain 1 fury. Immediately after resolving an attack where a friendly model destroyed 1 or more enemy models while in Calaban’s control area, Calaban can cast one spell and is allowed to boost attack/damage rolls. Lasts for one turn.
Feat thoughts: This feat can be devastating into infantry heavy lists. Each destroyed model giving Calaban 1 fury means high model count lists (Ghost fleet, gravediggers themes) would be a favored drop for him. As far as I know his isn’t limited to the amount of fury he can gain during his feat turn, meaning he can go over his fury stat. Against lower model count lists (Dark industries and Heavy Metal themes) it can be a useful way to re-fill Calaban after blowing through his fury on an aggressive turn, allowing him to have a couple transfers.
Having access to the bone shrines and blindwalker have really helped Calaban cover a larger area with his spells, allowing more flexibility on his placement on the battlefield. While it is tempting to go full ham (pun intended) with his damage dealing spells, it can be useful to hot swap occultation or especially parasite and to hold onto a couple for transfers.
Calaban’s strengths: With the variety of new models available to Blindwater and the addition of the Farrow models to non-theme lists, Calaban’s play style can vary drastically depending on list construction. He can help hit high def models with Carnivore, strip upkeeps with Hex blast, reduce armor with Parasite and open up lanes with bone shaker and unexpected arc nodes with Grave Door. His feat allows for an aggressive turn using all his fury with the safeguard that you will gain some back by the end of the turn.
Calaban’s weaknesses: Calaban has no real way to innately extend the threat ranges of his army, or to mitigate rough terrain. With 3 upkeeps Calaban can potentially be strapped for fury without support, a la Soul Slave or pulling a fury off a Bone shine. He has a bit of skornergy between his spell list and feat. All the RFP-ing from Heat Stopper, Carnivore and Boneshaker will limit how much fury he can get during feat turn.
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Post by apoc2148 on Apr 17, 2018 18:53:49 GMT
Beast selection: Calaban likes pretty much all the Blindwater beasties and can do something for all of them.
Heavies: Blackhide wrastler: Rage is always useful, paired with parasite and you have a mini Dracodile. No way to extend past the 9" threat.
Swamp horror: With parasite it can do decent damage against heavies and chain weapon on its tentacles allows it to reach more models which can benefit Calaban's feat. Slightly longer threat range than the Wrastler and can be used to pull heavies into range of the rest of Calaban's army.
Blindwalker: A 10 point model with shield guard and a self-damaging arc node. Until the arrival of the Bone Shrine this was the only arc node for Blindwater and I would argue an auto-include for any Calaban list. While it still has its uses, the Bone Shrines can be a cheaper alternative.
Ironback spitters: Adds another layer of shooting, but overall doesn't really contribute much to Calaban. Lights: Bull snapper: Spiny growth can be helpful to keep Calaban alive. With rage and carnivore coupling with the free charge against warrior models could be a late game assassination piece potentially hitting pow 18 (rage+parasite on caster) at mat 8.
Boneswarms: Can become powerful with the combination of parasite, rage and a few corpse tokens. With the generally large number of infantry bodies that Calaban will be bringing, keeping the Boneswarm full on corpses shouldn't be too difficult.
Gargantuan: Dracodile: Can be an interesting option, although Calaban can already make most models hit that hard with parasite and a Wrastler. You also lose a decent number of attacks for the high point cost of the Dracodile. I have yet to try the Dracodile in a list with Calaban, but that will be rectified through this testing.
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Post by apoc2148 on Apr 17, 2018 18:54:04 GMT
Battle Engines:
Sacral Vault: Calaban loves the Sacral Vault and the synergy between the two crank both up to 11. Telemetry increases Calaban’s already accurate spell slinging allowing him to hit DEF 16 with little trouble. Calaban can also give the Vault stealth if really needed. Shooting into a parasite-d unit will result in many casualties. 3 shots at essentially pow 16 with the possibility to kill another 3 models with Deathly Dominion means in the right situation the Vault could take out half a unit by itself and still end with some souls left over to activate soulstorm. And since Deathly Dominion doesn’t RFP the controlled model Calaban could get 2 fury for each kill from the Vault’s gun.
Meat Thresher: It likes hitting parasite-d models and can gain stealth to save it from any dedicated shooting. It also provides a decently mobile shooting platform and can mash multitudes of enemy models if it gets in the right spot. The high volume of attacks can benefit Calaban’s feat turn. Taking the meat thresher limits you to running either out of theme or in Will Work for Food.
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Post by apoc2148 on Apr 17, 2018 18:54:14 GMT
Solos:
Support:
Soul Slave: Absolutely a needed piece to play with Calaban. He likes everything the Soul Slave has to offer and can be taken as a free solo in most themes. A free upkeep, yes please. Spell slave to get out another hex blast, yes please!
Bone Shrine: Two shrines for 4 points allows Calaban an extra fury (with the risk of bad ju-ju) and a larger area to sling spells without having to expose himself. Two might not be required if you are taking a Blindwalker. As with anything location is crucially important. Ensure your placement of the shrine isn’t in range for turn 1 shooting.
Lanyssa Ryssyl: She gives Calaban one of the only ways for him to extend the threat ranges of models in his army with Hunter’s Mark. Exceeding useful solo that can be free in WWFF.
Kwaak & Gub: Parasite can help venom punch harder, enliven can help beasts survive an alpha. You can pull an exposed blindwalker out of combat so it can walk around its attacker and become an arc node again.
Gobber Tinker: Help extend the life of your battle engines and gives you another back field solo to camp flags.
Ellish Garrity: While still not released for sale (AFAIK) if you managed to secure one from the NQ prime subscription it can be another model for spell hate as well as puppet strings.
Croc Witch Doc: Can give ghostly to a single model to help mitigate terrain issues, should have lots of sac strike targets. Possibly worth it as a free model but there are better options.
Swamp Gobber Chef: While he can help mitigate some fury issues, Calaban will be spending most of his stack every turn so unless you run really beast heavy (WWFF comes to mind) you might not need his help.
Hutchuk: An ambushing model that can knock down or drop arm on constructs can always be useful.
Saxon Orrik: One of the few models that can hand out pathfinder in the Minion’s roster. Can be useful to get a unit of Posse onto their target.
Targ: The extra healing and ancillary attack can be nice to up the volume of attacks during the feat turn. Really competes hard with the Soul Slave as far as utilization of abilities that benefit Calaban. At this point the Soul Slave giving the free upkeep and spell slave seem to give it the upper hand.
Bog Trog Mist Speaker: Handing out eyeless to either Calaban or the Bone shrines can help it hit stealth-ed models and see through clouds.
Melee Solos:
Croak Hunters: The general lists I’ve seen floating around usually have at least 1 unit of croak raiders, this makes the Hunters seem even more useful. With gang, reposition 3”, stealth, poison weapons and quick work, this model can get some decent work done against enemy infantry.
Maximus: Loves hitting parasite’d models that have just had any buffs stripped away. Relentless charge helps to mitigate some terrain issues as well as berserk generating lots of attacks for Calaban’s feat turn if he can get dug into an enemy unit.
Totem hunter: The combination of carnivore and prey means it will hit anything you send it into, barring disobedient dice. Parasite helps him crack tougher models.
Thrullg: Another way to strip upkeeps without having to cast a 3 cost spell is always useful.
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Post by apoc2148 on Apr 17, 2018 18:54:24 GMT
Lesser Warlocks:
Wrong Eye and Snapjaw: A useful heavy that can benefit from Carnivore and parasite along with a Star-crossed warlock to help keep Calaban safe.
Rosch & Brine: Only able to be taken out of theme or in Will Work for Food. Can potentially be an infantry mulching machine with carnivore on Brine and overtake from the WWFF theme. Can open up some farrow beasts into the lists, battle boar for primal would be an ideal option but not required.
Dahila & Skarath: Haunting melody can help keep infantry at bay late game. Skarath’s spray can help unjam your lines as well as kills multiple models for Calaban’s feat. Runs fairly independently of Calaban himself.
Brun & Lug: Only able to be taken out of theme or in Will Work for Food. A versatile pair that benefit from hitting enemy models afflicted with parasite and stripped of upkeeps. Runs fairly independently of Calaban himself.
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Post by apoc2148 on Apr 17, 2018 18:54:42 GMT
Units: Below are the units that can work well with Calaban.
Croak Raiders: AD, pathfinder, immunity to corrosion and can melt a parasite-d heavy and available in the Blindwater theme. They can benefit from stealth to help deliver them, a good choice for any Calaban list.
Gatormen Posse: The main heavy infantry in Blindwater and available in the Blindwater theme. Parasite helps them to do more than just scratch the paint off of jacks. Carnivore and re-rolls can make them incredibly accurate and with two attacks each the 5 man unit can potentially take out 10 models. Snacking gained from the Blindwater Theme can be a problem with Calaban’s feat, but it is a “can” ability meaning they aren’t required to snack the model they destroy.
Cylena & Nyss Hunters: Available in the Will Work for Food theme and out of theme. This fast, hard hitting unit can benefit from stealth and can obliterate any enemy affected by parasite.
Greygore Boomhowler and C0.: Available out of theme and in Will Work for Food. A decent tar pit unit that can be delivered easier via stealth and the cacophony fell call can halt an enemy unit for a bit.
Bog Trog Ambushers: Ambushers get a nice pow boost from parasite and when ambushed they can pop in where an opponent is weakest. Can be troublesome to get them in feat range when they ambush in though.
Gatorman Bokor and Shamblers: Parasite allows the bokor and shamblers to hit targets harder than they should and with the amount of bodies that Calaban’s lists generally bring you should be well stocked on corpses. This unit is available in the Blindwater theme.
Farrow Brigands + Warlord: Only available out of theme for Calaban. The brigands + warlord can get to a surprisingly high pow/P+S between parasite and prey. Occultation helps deliver them considering their low def and with hog wild you can get potentially 22 attacks out of the unit. As far as volume of attacks go, that is one of the highest.
Farrow Valkyries: Available in the Will Work for Food theme and out of theme, the Valkyries provide some much needed shield guards to Calaban’s forces. The combination of parasite and gang can make them hit fairly hard as well. A nice addition to a WWFF list to protect Calaban’s beast till the lines meet.
Farrow Razorback Crew: The Razorback crew brings some long range presence to Calaban’s lists and against an enemy afflicted with parasite a pow 17 brutal damage shot is nothing to scoff at. This unit is only available out of theme though.
Farrow Slaughterhousers: A good second wave unit that can become POW 14 weaponmasters when parasite and finisher are combined. They are only available out of theme however.
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Post by apoc2148 on Apr 17, 2018 18:54:52 GMT
Calaban in Theme: Blindwater Congregation: Theme benefits: +2” deployment, Gatorman posse become FA:U, gain 8 boxes and snacking, for each 20 points of units/battle engines nets you a free solo, boil master and cauldron, or bull snapper. The Blindwater theme has everything that Calaban wants for list options. Access to shooting units, Sacral Vault, Posse getting stronger, and an extra 2” of deployment to boot. You lose access to any farrow units as well as the meat thresher. Below are two lists that I am going to try once I get a chance to game again. Blindwater w/ Dracodile conflictchamber.com/#cb201b_-0v454djTjWfIj_fgfgkcjYi3Minion Army - 75 / 75 points [Theme] The Blindwater Congregation (Calaban 1) Calaban, the Grave Walker [+29] - Bull Snapper [0(5)] - Dracodile [36] - Gatorman Soul Slave [0(5)] Bog Trog Mist Speaker [0(4)] Bone Shrine [2] Croak Raiders (max) [16] Croak Raiders (max) [16] Gatorman Posse (max) [16] - Void Leech (1) [1] Sacral Vault [17] Thoughts on the list: Oh dracodile, why do you cost so much? This list is pretty straightforward, Croaks are the AD skirmishers hopefully melting choice targets off the field with a combination of multiple shots and parasite and hex blast removing upkeeps. Posse with the void leech are the second line unit to hold zones. Beast load out is tight for points and fury with the dracodile being the only beast with points being spent on it. The bull snapper is a fury bank and access to spiny growth for Calaban. Mist speaker hands out magical weapons to whatever needs it and eyeless sight for the dracodile. Potential issues: With only two beasts and a bone shrine Calaban will be woefully short on fury once he loses either a beast or the shrine. Also lacks many arc nodes so placement of the bone shrine will be crucial. Also any lists that have mass immunities to fire will be difficult for the croaks to deal with. Blindwater no drac conflictchamber.com/#cb201b_-0v454cjQbN4djWj_j_dHjXfgfgkci3Minion Army - 75 / 75 points [Theme] The Blindwater Congregation (Calaban 1) Calaban, the Grave Walker [+29] - Blackhide Wrastler [16] - Blind Walker [10] - Boneswarm [7] - Bull Snapper [0(5)] - Gatorman Soul Slave [0(5)] Bone Shrine [2] Bone Shrine [2] Gobber Tinker [2] Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron [0(5)] Croak Raiders (max) [16] Croak Raiders (max) [16] Gatorman Posse (max) [16] Sacral Vault [17] Thoughts: Similar unit composition to the previous list. Adds in a little more ranged presence with the Blindwalker and the additional bone shrine. With rage+parasite the bull snapper and bone swarm can hit surprisingly hard. The pot can collect the multitude of corpses and use puppet master/spectral lash as needed. Potential Issues: Along with the first list, e-leaps are going to be troublesome with the croaks low armor stats. This list has a bit more footprint so scenarios that require you to spread out will be easier to handle. Also any lists that have mass immunities to fire will be difficult for the croaks to deal with. Overall thought on lists: Trying to get the max free models from units puts the cinch on what points you can spend on warbeasts, and with the posse’s low POW and the croaks fragility, the beasts backing up the list need to be able to crack armor well. Which in Blindwater’s case would be a wrastler for access to rage or a dracodile.
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Post by apoc2148 on Apr 19, 2018 21:12:59 GMT
Calaban in Theme: Will Work For Food. Theme Benfits: Warbeasts gain overtake and +2 spd when running first turn. For each full 25 points of beasts/lesser warlocks in the list you get a free solo. Thoughts about Calaban in WWFF: The initial speed increase is great for getting all the beasts in better positions first turn since Calaban has no way of innately extending their threat range. It also opens up the meat thresher for use which can be fun, but doesn’t net you any freebies. Unit-wise, Calaban gains access to farrow Valkyries, Cylena and the Nyss hunters, Greygore & Co, and all the lesser warlocks. Below are a couple starting points for lists that I am going to try over the next several months. Lists: conflictchamber.com/#cb201b_-0P454cjQ4djNjWfIj_j_fFbF75i3Minion Army - 75 / 75 points [Theme] Will Work for Food (Calaban 1) Calaban, the Grave Walker [+29] - Blackhide Wrastler [16] - Blind Walker [10] - Bull Snapper [5] - Swamp Horror [15] - Gatorman Soul Slave [0(5)] Bog Trog Mist Speaker [0(4)] Bone Shrine [2] Bone Shrine [2] Swamp Gobber Chef [1] Wrong Eye & Snapjaw [17] Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (max) [19] Sacral Vault [17] List thoughts: Nyss hunters with stealth are a good jamming unit and can hit surprisingly hard with CRA and weaponmaster attacks. Double bone shrines and a blindwalker ensures Calaban can hit the entire board with his spells and is backed up by the Sacral Vault. Wrong eye and snapjaw provide another decent hitting heavy and some defensive tech. conflictchamber.com/#cb201b_-0P454cjQjNjNjWj_fCjV4k7FfyfF75Minion Army - 75 / 75 points [Theme] Will Work for Food (Calaban 1) Calaban, the Grave Walker [+29] - Blackhide Wrastler [16] - Blind Walker [10] - Swamp Horror [15] - Swamp Horror [15] - Gatorman Soul Slave [0(5)] Bone Shrine [2] Hutchuck, Ogrun Bounty Hunter [0(6)] Kwaak Slickspine & Gub, Croak Sorcerers [0(4)] Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress [4] Rorsh [15] - Brine - Battle Boar [7] Swamp Gobber Chef [1] Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (max) [19] Thoughts: This his is more geared to chew threw infantry but should still be able to decently deal with armor with the combination of the rage and parasite. With two ways to extend threat ranges via the swamp horror’s 4” pull and lanyssa’s hunter’s mark your opponent will really have to watch out for any janky maneuvers you could potentially pull off with Brine. Kwaak & gub really shine in beast heavy lists and with 5 heavies to choose from, they should always have something beneficial to do during the turn. And lastly I came up with this janky beast heavy list utilizing my soon to be painted boil master and cauldron. conflictchamber.com/#cb201b_-0P454cjQbNbNjNjNjWj_fCjV4kjX75Minion Army - 75 / 75 points [Theme] Will Work for Food (Calaban 1) Calaban, the Grave Walker [+29] - Blackhide Wrastler [16] - Blind Walker [10] - Boneswarm [7] - Boneswarm [7] - Swamp Horror [15] - Swamp Horror [15] - Gatorman Soul Slave [0(5)] Bone Shrine [2] Hutchuck, Ogrun Bounty Hunter [0(6)] Kwaak Slickspine & Gub, Croak Sorcerers [4] Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress [4] Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron [5] Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (max) [19] Thoughts on list: Between 3 corpses, rage and parasite the bone swarms can hit pow 21 (pow 23 if hutchuck rusts something)! Not too shabby for a 7 point light. Overall thoughts on Theme with Calaban: This is the theme list that I have the least experience using so my lists may be less than optimal. I think I prefer the second list to the first. The first list really maximizes Calaban’s spell slinging potential while the second list seems like more of an all-comer list that could have less bad matchups. The gobber chef is in both list since I was left with only 1 point. The third list really maximizes the beast +2 spd benefit with the sacrifice of not taking any lesser warlocks. Time will tell if that trade off with be beneficial or not. Cylena and the Nyss hunters are in all of my WWFF lists since they are a fast, high def jamming unit that have the potential to dish out decent damage.
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Post by apoc2148 on Apr 19, 2018 21:13:16 GMT
Calaban out of theme: Playing Calaban out of theme can really open up his list selection, coupled with his jack-of-all-trades spell list it could potentially create some havoc for your opponents and unexpected combos. The lists: conflictchamber.com/#cb201b454cjQjNjWfIj_0OflhYi3Minion Army - 75 / 75 points (Calaban 1) Calaban, the Grave Walker [+29] - Blackhide Wrastler [16] - Blind Walker [10] - Swamp Horror [15] - Gatorman Soul Slave [5] Bog Trog Mist Speaker [4] Bone Shrine [2] Farrow Brigands (max) [15] - Farrow Brigand Warlord [4] Meat Thresher [16] Sacral Vault [17] Thoughts on the list: Double battle engines ho! This list utilizes a bunch of powerful shooting with the combination of prey and parasite. It also uses the 3 core heavies for Calaban bringing some threat extension from the swamp horror and more armor cracking with rage. Stealth really helps protect the brigands with their low stats and with all the concentrated shooting you should be able to down at least 1 heavy a turn. conflictchamber.com/#cb201b454cbNbNjNjWj_j_fC4kjXfg0OflMinion Army - 75 / 75 points (Calaban 1) Calaban, the Grave Walker [+29] - Blackhide Wrastler [16] - Boneswarm [7] - Boneswarm [7] - Swamp Horror [15] - Gatorman Soul Slave [5] Bone Shrine [2] Bone Shrine [2] Hutchuck, Ogrun Bounty Hunter [6] Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress [4] Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron [5] Croak Raiders (max) [16] Farrow Brigands (max) [15] - Farrow Brigand Warlord [4] Thoughts on list: Not quite as skew-y as the first one but still brings lots of shooting with a bit more beast meat to back it up and a bit more scenario presence. I really want to get a pow 21 boneswarm onto an enemy heavy and this list should be able to do that, hopefully with a free charge from Lanyssa. Thoughts on Calaban out of theme: The sky is really the limit with lists when you go out of theme. There are so many different synergies that can be discovered when you combine Calaban’s variety of spells and the different options available to warlocks now that the Farrow and Blindwater models have been combined into one faction. It will be interesting to see if the 2-3 free models plus theme benefits outweighs the versatility of a non-theme list. Next will be some battle reports, once I actually have time to game again. I’m interested in hearing other people’s opinions on our power hungry voodoo gator. P.S. I kind of want to try and convert a Soul Slave to look like Maelok to run with Calaban just for fluff’s sake.
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daveg
Light Addition
Posts: 67
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Post by daveg on Apr 20, 2018 16:09:12 GMT
It's interesting to see another person's thoughts on Caliban as he is the main caster I've played since switching into Minions. His tool box and flexibility has been fun and surprising to explore into a variety of matchups. Plus he's a sweet Vodoo gator.
I'm surprised you've identified Hex Blast as his main nuke. I've cast Bone Shaker significantly more often in my 10 or 15 games with him. Bone Shaker is often significantly for both infantry clearing and assassination attempts. If you need the AoE to catch something (i.e. Eiryss, etc) with splash damage, strip an ukeep, or just stay 2" futher back it makes sense. But for fury efficiency, Bone Shaker's favored for assassination runs or feat turn infantry murdering. Admittedly, I am assuming that the taken over model kills his buddy in the back more often than blast damage will have the opportunity to kill. Bone Shaker on feat turn is especially fury efficient when you can trade two infantry for 1 fury.
Similarly, the one higher pow of hex blast isn't worth the one extra fury on assassination attempts most often. Dark power helps drive the efficiency of multiple spells significantly. If there is a specific amount of fury you want to end on and want to spend 3 fury,using the extra fury to boost the to hit or dmg roll on Bone Shaker is better as more dice are magnified by Dark Power.
The Spell Slave on the other hand sends off Hex Blasts more often as his damage trade ability to make everything boosted is excellent on drifting AoEs.
At least that's been my experience so far with him. The nice thing is, much like the rest of his kit, you have options to use depending on the situation. The only spell of his that I'd like to see changed is Carnivore. I find it frustrating that it only works on living models and requires you to RFP rather than giving you the choice.
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Post by apoc2148 on Apr 20, 2018 18:33:25 GMT
It's interesting to see another person's thoughts on Caliban as he is the main caster I've played since switching into Minions. His tool box and flexibility has been fun and surprising to explore into a variety of matchups. Plus he's a sweet Vodoo gator. I'm surprised you've identified Hex Blast as his main nuke. I've cast Bone Shaker significantly more often in my 10 or 15 games with him. Bone Shaker is often significantly for both infantry clearing and assassination attempts. If you need the AoE to catch something (i.e. Eiryss, etc) with splash damage, strip an ukeep, or just stay 2" futher back it makes sense. But for fury efficiency, Bone Shaker's favored for assassination runs or feat turn infantry murdering. Admittedly, I am assuming that the taken over model kills his buddy in the back more often than blast damage will have the opportunity to kill. Bone Shaker on feat turn is especially fury efficient when you can trade two infantry for 1 fury. Similarly, the one higher pow of hex blast isn't worth the one extra fury on assassination attempts most often. Dark power helps drive the efficiency of multiple spells significantly. If there is a specific amount of fury you want to end on and want to spend 3 fury,using the extra fury to boost the to hit or dmg roll on Bone Shaker is better as more dice are magnified by Dark Power. The Spell Slave on the other hand sends off Hex Blasts more often as his damage trade ability to make everything boosted is excellent on drifting AoEs. At least that's been my experience so far with him. The nice thing is, much like the rest of his kit, you have options to use depending on the situation. The only spell of his that I'd like to see changed is Carnivore. I find it frustrating that it only works on living models and requires you to RFP rather than giving you the choice. I see your point about bone shaker. I think the main reason I gave hex blast the higher nuking rating is its upkeep/animi removal on hit. For example, against an arcane shielded stormlance bone shaker will be at dice -8 (0 damage with average rolls, ignoring dark power) while hex blast will be at dice -4. While both spells will be able to deal with light infantry, hex blast has the higher percentage of doing more damage. It also has the affect of causing slight activation issues and resource expenditure for your opponent having to recast the upkeep and not being able to hot swap it during their turn. Hex blast also has a longer threat range, albeit by 2 inches, but late game that could be pivotal. Bone shaker was actually the least cast spell when I played Calaban in Mk2. I never seemed to be in range to get that spell to reach. Now with access to cheap arc nodes via the shrines that may change. The two spells could and should be used in conjunction with each other, smack the enemy with hex blast to strip off any pesky upkeeps/animi and then spam out bone shakers if you're targeting infantry. I mirror your sentiment about carnivore. Kinda sad that didn't get changed to carnage in the CID, not that Calaban got touched at all during the CID.
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Post by Azahul on Apr 20, 2018 22:52:19 GMT
Bone Shaker on feat turn is especially fury efficient when you can trade two infantry for 1 fury. How are you getting Bone Shaker for one Fury on Feat turn? The model hit by Bone Shaker is RFP'd, so no Fury, and unless you're playing against a Minion army it won't qualify as Friendly Faction so any model it kills won't count either.
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daveg
Light Addition
Posts: 67
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Post by daveg on Apr 21, 2018 0:25:31 GMT
Bone Shaker on feat turn is especially fury efficient when you can trade two infantry for 1 fury. How are you getting Bone Shaker for one Fury on Feat turn? The model hit by Bone Shaker is RFP'd, so no Fury, and unless you're playing against a Minion army it won't qualify as Friendly Faction so any model it kills won't count either. I stand corrected. I knew the RFPed model didn't count but for some reason thought that when I took control of the other model it counted. Re-looking over the rules for controlling models, it looks like that doesn't work. That can go on the pile of 'quality of life changes' that would be nice to have someday. At least I've only made that mistake in one practice game that I can recall. And I'd agree that a mix of Hex Blast and Bone Shakers come up in games. It's nice to have tools.
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Post by apoc2148 on Apr 24, 2018 11:43:55 GMT
How are you getting Bone Shaker for one Fury on Feat turn? The model hit by Bone Shaker is RFP'd, so no Fury, and unless you're playing against a Minion army it won't qualify as Friendly Faction so any model it kills won't count either. I stand corrected. I knew the RFPed model didn't count but for some reason thought that when I took control of the other model it counted. Re-looking over the rules for controlling models, it looks like that doesn't work. I actually missed the part that even though the controlled model becomes friendly, it does not become "faction" as well. I've updated my blurb about bone shaker with this information.
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