I found this on the
PP forums.
www.privateerpressforums.com/index.php Too bad there isnt a Evolution rundown like this...
Warlocks Lylyth, Herald of Everblight Lylyth is a very interesting warlock choice. My personal interpretation of her use is to chip away at the enemy's army by hitting priority targets like solos and unit leaders until the time comes for a quick and deadly attack on the enemy warlock (and anything standing between it an her forces). Her bow has several uses. She can use it to hit take out unit leaders, use it to Blood Lure friendly warbeasts to give them a free charge, and use it as a channeling method for Eruption of Spines. Her spells are somewhat limited but have their uses. Casting Bad Blood on a high Fury warbeast will make the enemy warlock pay avoid a frenzy and Taint will make the the enemy's warbeasts pay if they choose to take the risk. Her Field of Slaughter Feat lends itself well to the "Destroy the Enemy in One Turn" strategy but must be executed carefully and in a calculated manner.
Pros - Fast, decent stats, ability to make up for her Fury stat with Blood Lure, and a Feat that is just plain nasty if used correctly
Cons - Low
ARM, low Fury, lacks infantry buffs. Keep her out of melee!
Works well with Shredders - Can maintain a quartet of Shredders with ease and can make them quite devastating.
Harrier - Blood Lure and Arcing Fire do well for these guys.
Seraph - Her feat makes Strafe a thing of beauty and Blood Lure/Arcing Fire lends itself well to these guys.
Carnivean - Blood Lure essentially gives him an extra Fury point amd Field of Slaughter makes his Breath Attack death to all infantry.
Striders - Despite Lylyth's lack of infantry buffs, the Striders require little support to be effective.
Spawning Vessel - With all that shooting and Eruption of Spines, Lylyth will leave plenty of dead bodies on the field for the Acolyths to collect.
Warmongers - These guys stand pretty well without many buffs.
The Forsaken - A must have in any Lylyth list to make up for her low Fury stat.
Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight Thagrosh is a our "Meat and Potatoes" warlock. He has good all-around stats despite a rather low
DEF value. His melee weapon is nothing to scoff at and will be enough to take down most other warlocks and most warbeasts if he's sitting on all his Fury. Eruption of Ash seems interesting but requires some finesse to make work. His Blighted Breath is a fantastic option on closing, lightly armored warbeasts but might require boosted attack rolls. His Athanc ability will be quite nice as games roll on and some of your warbeasts die. Spellwise, he's a superb unit-leading warlock as he has two spells that are fantastic for infantry. Death Shroud boosts friendly
DEF while Draconic Blessing boosts
STR. His Obliteration spell is also quite strong on individual targets as well as on units. His high Fury stat means that he can also field quite a few warbeasts although he doesn't have any buffs that look like they're specifically designed with them in mind. Mutagenesis looks like it might provide some interesting options for some sneaky caster assassination but looks like it may be difficult to set up. His feat begs that he take a Carnivean.
Pros - Strong melee warlock, high Fury stat, great infantry buffs
Cons - Rather slow, lowish
RAT, no warbeast-specific buffs
Works Well With - Shredders - Death Shroud boosts their
DEF up to very high levels. His high Fury stat allows for larger Shredder swarms.
Harrier - Death Shroud gives them uber-high
DEF. The presence of a Harrier in a Thagrosh warpack means that he can auto-hit for one focus.
Seraph -
DEF benefits from Death Shroud and does some nice damage with Draconic Blessing
Teraph - Draconic Blessing makes these guys a stronger melee option.
Carnivean - Two words - Dark Revival
Striders - With Camouflage, they have godly
DEF with Death Shroud.
Blighted Swordsmen - Benefit nicely from Dark Revival and Death Shroud
Blighted Archers - Death Shroud - yep.
Warmongers - Draconic Blessing makes them hit that much harder and get average
DEF levels from Death Shroud.
Vayl, Desciple of Everblight Vayl is obviously fragile as they get. She has a very low
ARM and not many Damage boxes. She seems to be the "High Risk" warlock as many of her abilities seem to require that the enemy is close (i.e. Dark Sentinal, Incite). Oraculus is interesting but seems rather difficult to use unless you backstrike friendly targets with high
ARM and low
DEF (like our Warmongers or Carnivean). Spellwise, Chiller will lend itself well to our melee infantry, Teraph, Carnivean, and perhaps our Shredder and Harrier. Hoarfrost is quite strong but requires use of the Oraculus or a big, meaty screen in front of her. Incite seems a little scary, as it means that enemy warbeasts will be close to Vayl when they're used, but will work well with Dark Sentinal. Malice is an interesting spell and will probably be most effective against light, Fury 3 warbeasts. Siren Song is pretty neat in the event that warbeasts begin to close on Vayl. I'm still not sure about Talion as it seems more effective to transfer ALL damage from Vayl for one Fury instead of just half of it for two (or upkeep). Regardless, she is our finesse caster and will be the most difficult to field. Tread carefully.
Pros - A fair
DEF value w/ Snow-Wreathed, HIGH Fury, some interesting spells, and a very strange playstyle that once mastered will be tough to play against.
Cons - Fragile as they come, hard to play with
Works Well With Shredder - A swarm of "Teeth with Feet" will benefit from Chiller. Tenacity is a nice buff for Vayl.
Harrier - Benefits well from Chiller as it helps give the Harrier a good chance to at least take down two infantry models (one with True Strike, the other with the Chiller debuff).
Seraph - Its large base (yes, it's a light warbeast, but it does have a large base) will make it an easy target for Hoarfrost. Fly the Seraph in, then make with the Icee.
Teraph - Crowd Control is going to be the key to using Vayl and these guys fill the role with gusto.
Carnivean - Keep one close to Vayl at all times and keep Incite up when things hot. Putting Spiny Growth on Vayl might not be a poor idea at times.
Striders - Work well in almost any army because of their ability to work well without many buffs.
Blighted Swordsmen - Benefit nicely from Chiller
Spawning Vessel - There will be lots of death in a well played game using Vayl. The Spawning Vessel is how you cash in.
Warmongers - Vayl requires protection. A full Warmongers unit does quite well in this role and also benefit well from Chiller.
Warbeasts Shredder - The Shredders are fast, cheap, and can be devastating in numbers. The tend to work a bit better with Warlocks with high Fury stats, as it allows you to field more of them without having to make as many Frenzy checks. Suffice to say, they do work well with our resident "low Fury Warlock" because of her Blood Lure ability which gives them an effective 11" Charge (6"
SPD + 2" Rabid Bonus + 3" Charge) for the cost of only 1 Fury. Their high
SPD and
DEF make them great for flanking and mop up. Tenacity makes them even more difficult to hit by giving them
DEF values of Cryxian Proportions. Just make sure that you will know whether or not you will be able to manage their fury on the turn you send them in, as a Frenzied group of Shedders will tear eachother apart. Because of their cheap cost, these guys also make great targets for damage Transference. Their cost also makes them great as sacrificial units that will buy you time to line up that Swordsmen,
Warmonger, or Carnivean charge. Because of their low Fury stat, they don't make superb targets for the Forsaken - better off leaving her with something bigger.
Pros - Cheap, fast, difficult to hit. The size of the swarm you should field depends on the Fury stat of the Warlock controlling them (high Fury = more Shredders).
Cons - Adelphophagy means you must keep their Fury in check, low
ARM, can't make Power Attacks.
Gets Bonuses From:
Lylyth - Blood Lure gives them a free charge. She can nominally field 4 Shredders. She is the "Fast Shredder" Warlock
Thagrosh - Death Shroud boosts their
DEF to a whopping 16. Draconic Blessing can allow you to charge in one of these little guys and force the enemy into having to make a Command Check - a great way to create chaos. He can nominally field 6 Shredders. He is the "High
DEF Shredder" Warlock.
Vayl - Cat and Mouse is a great way to get these guys up in a position to threaten or close and casting Chiller on your lead Shredder will essentially give the group a +2
MAT, possibly saving you from having to use Rabid.
Blighted Archers - Their Volley attack can clear a path through an infantry swarm for these guys to run through to hit high priority targets.
Harrier -
The Harrier is another model that doesn't require a lot of synergy to be particularly effective. They're slightly more expensive then the Shredder (as 3 Harriers could buy you 4 Shredders instead) but have a bit of a different niche. Because they don't get the same Pack Mentality bonus as Shredders do, Harriers work quite well on their own. Their True Strike ability makes them superb for taking out high
DEF/low
ARM solos and unit leaders with their 10" charge that ignores terrain and other models. Because the rules for Flyby attack to not stipulate the order inwhich attacks are made against models that it passed over, you can start from the back and make your way foreword to the first model it passed, allowing you to put True Strike on the model that you wanted to focus the attack on. Their matched speed and shared ability to ignore terrain with Striders make a Harrier or two a nice pairing with a Strider unit.
Pros - Relatively inexpensive, superb solo/unit leader hunter, good
DEF, works well without much support
Cons - Low
ARM, relatively low
MAT (made up for by True Strike)
Gets Bonuses from Lylyth - Blood Lure gives them a free Charge. Her feat makes these guys brutal.
Thagrosh - Draconic Blessing makes them hit a little harder and Death Shroud gives them a nice
DEF boost making them very harder to hit than Bonejacks.
Seraph -
Now that we have a ruling on Slipstream, it's a relatively nice unit. While many think Strafe a completely waste, the Seraphs speed and mobility can really make it work. It won't hit every model it shoots at, but it will take down a few. Any way that you can boost its
RAT value is a good thing, so these guys will be great on Lylyth's feat turn. It has a rather respectable
DEF value that can be made great by use of terrain or buffs. It's speed and Wings abilities make for some interesting Slam options.
Pros - Swiss Army Knife of a model that can do well at range and in melee. Slipstream will give your Carnivean an extra 2" of charge.
Cons - Requires support to be truly great
Gets Bonuses From Lylyth - Her Feat turn will make Seraphs an infantrymen's worse nightmare. Bloodlure gives them an effective Fury value of 4. Her bow goes hand in hand with anything with Wings.
Thagrosh - Demonic Blessing will make them a bit stronger in melee and will give some option for sewing chaos. Death Shroud will give them a
DEF of 16 - take that Bonejacks!
Vayl - Her feat turn will allow for some interesting options. No other obvious bonuses.
Shredders - Casting Tenacity on a Seraph will give them stats that are a bit very nice.
Striders - Matched speed and ability to ignore terrain effects make them a nice pairing (see Harriers).
Warmongers - A wall of Warmongers makes an excellent place to keep a Seraph until the time to spring it comes around.
Teraph -
The Teraph is a bit of an intersting unit. Its stats seem lackluster at first glance but its abilties (in addition to the positive buffs you can put on it) can make it quite a strong piece for its cost. Dig In will boost its
DEF and
ARM to 17 and 19 respectively, making it very difficult to hit from range and quite difficult to damage if a shot does hit it. Any model that is attacking the Teraph will need to boost their attack in order to hit it, meaning that most models that are able to hit it in melee will not be able hurt it badly because of the sacrifice of Fury required to actually hit it. Because of Warlock healing abilities, that means that it's possible for this thing to stand toe-to-toe with a Heavy Warbeast for at least a few turns before it dies. Counterblast seems like it might be a fairly decent deterent. I'm unsure if the Teraph is allowed to be forced to boost attack or damage rolls. If it is, then Counterblast is quite nice, if not, then its uses might be fairly limited. I see myself using it to help control the battlefield and force the enemy to go where I want them as well as using them as warlock or ranged infantry bodyguards.
Pros - Great
DEF/
ARM stats when Dug In and repairability make this a great defensive piece. Its decent
STR value and Jaw weapon means that it can arm/headlock. Blightblast can do some nice damage.
Cons - Its stats (aside from
DEF/
ARM) are pretty mediocre with low melee damage values and lousy
MAT/
RAT.
Gets Bonuses From: Lylyth- Gets a nice bonus from Blood Lure and the feat turn
Thagrosh - Draconic Blessing will boost the Teraph's melee effectiveness and cause closing models to have to make a command check.
Vayl - Counterblast and Dark Sentinal work quite well together, giving the Teraph a couple attacks on enemy models closing on Vayl.
Shredder - Tenacity will help increase the Teraph's longevity even more.
Carnivean - Spiny Growth will boost their
ARM up to 21. 'Nuff said.
Carnivean -
The Carnivean is our powerhouse. It's fast, strong, and hits like a ton of bricks. It has high armor and fairly dense life spiral. All Terrain will allow them to use Forest and Rough templates to their advantage. Its Assault ability gives it a few options when it charges in. It can go for the single target or attempt to take out a line of infantry behind it. While it does have a rather low
MAT and
RAT, Eyeless Sight lets them ignore all those little things that keep other models from charging things with Stealth from long range. Spiny Growth is nice too as it uses the "Target Model" rule.
Pros - High Fury and Threshold values, 3 Melee Weapons, 2 Charge options, All Terrain, and great
ARM and
SPD stats.
Cons - It's expensive.
Gets Bonuses From: Lylythl - Blood Lure gives them a free charge and her Feat turn will make this thing scary. Field of Slaughter and his Breath Attack are death to heavy infantry.
Thargrosh - Demonic Blessing will give this guy two P+S 18 weapons and a one-shot P+S 20 weapon. Not much can stand up to that in addition to the 4 Fury that can be pumped into it. The Carnivean is always a fine choice for Dark Revival.
Vayl - Dark Sentinal will allow the Carnivean to seriously hurt anything that gets near Vayl.
Shredders - Tenacity will give them a small
ARM boost.
Seraph - Slipstream will give the Carnivean an extra 2" of charge.
The Forsaken - With such a high Fury value, the Forsaken is a perfect companion for any Carnivean.
Units Strider - The Striders are an interesting threat piece. Advanced Deployment, Stealth, Pathfinder, Camoflauge, a fine
DEF stat and an impressive
SPD stat make Striders superb for safely navigating the playing field while
CRA gives them a nice
RAT 13, POW 16 shot for when they choose to reveal themselves an pounce on a target. These abilities make them a fine choice for any army as they require little else to be effective. However, their price tag is a bit high for such a small unit and they are quite vulnerable to drifting AoEs. While field allowance does allow for multiple units, the unit cost makes this a pricey endeavour.
Pros - Difficult to hit, hard to chase down, and great threat piece.
Cons - Expensive, weak to AoEs, are a "one" shot unit. Pathfinder is a nice ability against most Warmachine armies but appears to be fairly ubiquitous across the board for all factions.
Gets bonuses from:
Lylyth - Field of Slaughter will give them the ability to hit most infantry and fast warbeasts units with ease.
Thagrosh - Draconic Blessing will them a bit of a boost in melee and will force the into a command check before being able to take them down. Death Shroud will give them a cumulative +4
DEF while in the Prophet's contol area.
Vayl - Cat and Mouse will allow them to jump out, attack, and slip away next turn as the enemy attempts to close.
Harrier - Matched speed and ability to ignore terrain make a Harriers a fine pairing with Striders.
Blighted Swordsmen - The Blighted Swordsmen are as vanilla as they get. Decent
SPD, a great
MAT, and Weapon Master make them quite nice if they can get into melee. Just beware their
ARM and
DEF stats. Unless they have a heavy escort to block
LOS,
DEF and
ARM buffs are a must.
Pros - Cheap as they get, hit hard and accurately on a charge.
Cons - Low
ARM requires a screen or buffs to get them to their target.
Gets bonuses from:
Lylyth - Field of Slaughter is a lovely thing if these guys get a charge off on a warlock.
Thagrosh - Death Shroud will help them dodge ranged attacks. Draconic Blessing makes them hit like a truck and makes them cause Terror (which they can ignore thanks to being Fearless).
Vayl - Chiller offers an effective +2
MAT making them even more accurate. Cat and Mouse will give them the ability to close on retreating enemy models.
Seraph - A pair of Seraphs making a Strafe attack on an infantry screen could be quite lovely to clear a path for a Swordsmen Charge.
Blighted Archers - A unit of Archers behind a Swordsmen unit can clear an infantry screen with Concentrated Volley (which ignores
LOS).
Spawning Vessel - Because of their low
ARM stat, your Swordsmen will usually die in battle, but the Spawning Vessel will pay you back for that if you have an Acolyth in close proximity to the Swordsmen unit.
Warmongers - These big fellas are a superb screening unit for the Swordsmen because of their muliple wounds, high
ARM stat, and Abomination (which the Swordsmen ignore). Just watch out for Berserk!
The Forsaken - Another good unit for clearing a path to hardened enemy targets by use of its Blight Shroud. Feel the love.
Blighted Archers -
Our other relatively generic unit, the Blighted Archers have decent all around stats and can lay into an infantry unit with Volley or a warbeast/lock with
CRA. Their
ARM is as low as it gets so protect them. They are quite cheap, so fielding a pair of these units is a possibility.
Pros - Cheap, able to deal with light and hardened targets.
Cons - Very low
ARM that buffs won't be able to help. Screen them or keep them back. Watch out for AoEs.
Gets bonuses from:
Lylyth - Field of Slaughter is nice against high-
DEF warlocks/casters.
Thagrosh - Death Shroud will improve their survivability against ranged attacks.
Vayl - Cat and Mouse will allow them the opportunity to escape or chase if needed.
Spawning Vessel - see Swordsmen entry.
Warmongers - Provide a screen for the Archers to launch their Volley attack from and keep enemy attention focused on the front line.
Spawning Vessel -
This unit lends itself well to armies that consist of, or play against, infantry swarms or Trollbloods. Each infantry unit of 10 (assuming it's composed of models with small bases) can equal two more Shredders for your army. If you can keep an acolyth in close proximity to one of our Nyss units, then the loss of that unit will give you two more Shredders if they were to die. Otherwise use of this unit can be a bit tricky. You'll have to determine where skirmishes will take place and make sure an Acolyth is there to collect Blood Tokens when they happen. Its uses as a Fury Battery are rather limited but can certainly come in handy in a pinch (especially if your Warbeasts start to go down). It requires terrain as even Mortar Squads can hit it 98% of the time if they get
LOS.
Pros - A cheap unit that, depending on the circumstances, can give your opponent tunnel vision, allowing you to get the upper hand. Works well with our infantry units. Good
ARM value keeps it safe from AOEs.
Cons - If not protected it will go down quite easily. Weak to ranged attacks that ignore models. It's also worth 2
VPs to your enemy.
Gets bonuses from:
Thagrosh - Draconic Blessing will cause melee attackers to flee in terror if they are not fearless. This will help keep the Acolyths safe from melee combatants.
Shredders - Tenacity will boost up their
ARM a little bit more, making them that much safer.
Blighted Archers - Their low
ARM value means that these guys will die. Often. Keep an Acolyth near them to collect the remains.
Blighted Swordsmen - See previous entry
Warmongers - Acolyths are fearless so have no problem staying near these guys (unless they Berserk). If a
Warmonger goes down, it will net you two Blood Tokens for its medium base size.
The Forsaken - The Blight Shroud does not affect friendly models, so you can use it to consume a chunk of a lightly armored unit and turn them into Shredders.
Warmongers -
These guys are built tough. Their high
ARM, multiple wounds, and Abomination abilities will keep them on the table for a bit of time. While they have a small maximum unit size, their medium sized bases will take up quite a bit of space, making them an excellent cantidate for screening weaker, but harder hitting units like Blighted Swordsmen. Keeping them in a tight formation might be a little scary when they get into combat, as Berserk, in addition to Reach, means that they will occasionally, if not often, end up poking eachother every now and then.
Pros - Medium Size base, high
ARM, multiple wounds, and Abomination means they are great as a front line unit that will hurt the enemy, then send it running as other faster units and warbeasts mop up.
Cons - Reach and Abomination can be quite difficult to work with, as a friendly attack will, on average, cut their hitpoints in half.
Gets bonuses from:
Thagrosh - Death Shroud will put their
DEF right at average, making them difficult to hit by anything with
RAT 5 or below. Draconic Blessing will also make them hit even harder.
Vayl - Cat and Mouse will allow them to close the gap the turn after they send the enemy's army fleeing in every direction.
Shredder - A Shredder Swarm can boost the
DEF and
ARM of this unit to a very respectable level. Just keep in mind that you need one Shredder for every Ogrun in the unit.
Harrier - Their speed and ability to ignore models make the Harriers an excellent follow up unit for the Warmongers. Send in the Warmongers, Activate the Harrier's Animus, and charge them in to mop up.
Seraph - A pair of Seraphs can clear a path for the Warmongers to get to hardened or high priority targets through infantry screens via Strafe.
Teraph - Teraphs and Warmongers act as a solid wall that not many would wish to scale.
Blighted Archers - An Archers unit can clear a path through an infantry screen from behind the Warmongers using their Volley attack.
Spawning Vessel - A dead, full unit of Warmongers will net you two shredders. Oh, and anything they kill will provide you with Bloodpoints too! Don't forget that Acolyths are Fearless.
Solos The Forsaken The Forsaken obviously lends itself well to any army with Lylyth or with lots of Warbeasts. It has a rather nice
ARM value and a decent Damage grid. It has nice stats all around and can do some damage with its claw or Blight Shroud attack. The Shroud and Abomination are a very effective combination to clear a path through infantry screens. While it can use Fury to boost attack and damage, it cannot, unfortunately, buy more attacks.
Pros - Works well with Lylyth or any Warbeast-Centric list. Can destroy infantry with ease.
Cons - Can't buy more attacks, average
SPD Gets Bonuses From: Thargrosh - Draconic Blessing and Death Shroud make the Forsaken Stronger and harder to hit respectively. His Athanc ability leaves some room for the Forsaken to Leech.
Shredder - Tenacity is nice buff for the Forsaken
Carnivean - The big guy produces a lot of Fury. The Forsaken can help there.
Conclusions The Legion of Everblight appears to have some interesting qualities. On the one hand, with models like Shredders, Lylyth, Striders, and Harriers, they have the ability to play with a Cryxian style where a calculated and sudden attack will be the most effective. On the other hand, with models like Thagrosh, Warmongers, the Carnivean, and Teraph, they have the ability to weather the storm and brawl in good Khadoran fashion. Vayl seems to be the real challenge behind LoE. When looking at her stats, I know that making her work is going to be hard, but something in the back of my head says that when she works, she's hard to beat. It appears that most of our infantry will be fairly simple in form and function (i.e. Archers, Swordsmen) with the occasional oddball thrown in there (i.e. Vessel). Things can only be put through the metagame so much, and only playtesting will show the effectiveness of Shredder Swarms, the Blight Shroud, the Spawning Vessel, and Hoarfrost. Regardless of any doubts, I'm excited to find out.
