The mega update and Cryx

Introduction

I haven’t been writing any battle reports lately, but like many, I’m very excited about the latest update that Faye and the others at Privateer Press have put out for Warmachine. I figured I should write a post about it, to collect my own thoughts and maybe spark some discussion.

I intend to go through every model/theme in the faction, regardless if they changed or not, so I’ll give my thoughts on what changed, if anything, and if I feel like it was good. Of course, I won’t leave out Partisans like Asphyxious4 and the Cephalyx.

It’s worth noting that a lot of the validity of (some of) these changes will be relative within the whole of how the meta shapes up. After all, we’re not the only one that got sweeping point reductions and some quality of life improvements, splashed with an actual buff, or nerf, here and there. As such, I’ll try not to go to deep into each individual model, because it’s hard to assess; I’ll go into each model in a (relative) vacuum.

As a side note, I’d just like to mention that this update also marks the triumphant return of Conflict Chamber! There’s still a bug here and there, but most of it seems pretty good, and up-to-date.

There are a few general rules changes that I would rather not have to repeat every time below, so I’ve listed them here for your convenience.

The following is a change made to all theme forces in the game.

C: One other Small- or medium-based Cryx solo with a point cost of 5 or less

Note that this only applies to the generic “one other solo” bullet point. Most other requisition options were untouched. For Cryx specifically, this mostly means that models like the Hellslinger Phantom and Ol’ Grim can no longer be free. Many solos were also made cheaper, like Axiara and Severa to accommodate this change.

New Text for Drag: 
When this attack hits an enemy model with an equal or smaller base, immediately after the attack is resolved the enemy model can be pushed directly toward this model until it contacts a model, an obstacle, or an obstruction. After the enemy model is moved, this model can make one basic melee attack against the enemy model. After resolving this melee attack, this model can make additional melee attacks during its Combat Action.

New Text for Shield Guard:
Once per round, when a friendly model is directly hit by a non-spray ranged attack during your opponent’s turn while within 3˝ of this model, you can choose to have this model directly hit instead. This model is automatically hit and suffers all damage and effects. This model cannot use Shield Guard while it is incorporeal, knocked down, or stationary. The Shield Guard special rule can only trigger once per attack roll.

New Text for Sacrificial Pawn [XXX]:
When this model is directly hit by an enemy ranged attack, you can have one friendly, non-incorporeal XXX model within 3˝ of it directly hit instead. That model is automatically hit and suffers all damage and effects. The Sacrificial Pawn special rule can only trigger once per attack roll.

So Drag no longer needs to damage, and Shield Guard and Sacrificial Pawn can no longer be daisy chained across the board.

I’ll try to approach this in a positive mindset, but know that if I sound salty at any point, it’s because I’m very passionate about it. I’m actually very excited about this update and its ramifications, and I think it’s great that the developers had the courage to (finally) do this. I will mark my own notes in italics.

Let’s jump in!

Warcasters

Bane Witch Agathia

No changes, but she already got a rework recently and will benefit from cheaper models, especially her Warjacks and Bane Knights.

Captain Aiakos

Harpoon becomes RNG 10 (+4), Harpoon gains Aim for the Shoulder, Reaver gains Blood Boon, swap Jump for Leap:

Aim for the Shoulder – You can choose for this weapon to cause no damage.

Leap – After it makes a full advance during its Normal Movement but not during its combat action, you can place this model anywhere completely within 5˝of its current location this activation.

Drag text change

Aiakos2, like his first incarnation will definitely benefit from the change to Drag, as well as the increased range on his Harpoon. On top of that, he will potentially be able to use Leap after his combat action (as opposed to Jump before) to get out of harm’s way after shooting someone. Blood Boon might also be relevant, especially when paired with the cool little rule called Aim for the Shoulder, so he will be able to drag in some mook without risk of killing it and then trigger Blood Boon before jumping away.

These are honestly rather exciting changes, turning Aiakos into a relatively scary assassin. That said, his spells, while good, can still be hard to get the most out of with FOC 6. Blood Boon can help, but you’re not actually winning much if you need to boost the Harpoon and then the melee attack to make sure. His feat is also still a bit anti-synergistic, especially at the 75-point level. I have played him to good success in Brawlmachine though, and he’s only gotten better in that respect, so I won’t complain.

Iron Lich Asphyxious

Increase POW of feat to 7

A caster that was already playable got a decent quality of life improvement. Except when dealing with Parasited light infantry, I would often skip the damage portion of the feat, because it was hopeless. Now he will be able to annihilate whole swathes of infantry if you have a Parasite to spare, and possibly high roll here and there to even take out some tougher targets.
I wish they’d have used the opportunity to bump his speed (back) to 6, but I guess that was out of the scope of this update.

Lich Lord Asphyxious

Change Soul Reaper text to:
Place a 5˝ AOE anywhere completely within this model’s control range. The AOE remains in play for one round. When a living enemy model is destroyed in the AOE, this model gains the destroyed model’s soul token regardless of the proximity of other models or any other special rules. While the AOE is in play, this model cannot attack with Daeamortus and has no melee range.

A nice little change that might give The Lich a niche, besides deleting colossals. What this means is that he can ignore rules like Soul Ward or even Direct Spirits and take the souls for himself. Skorne and Protectorate will dislike that very much.

Asphyxious the Hellbringer

Feat becomes “…or spends 1 or more focus, fury, or essence points except to pay tithe while in Asphyxious’ control range,…”

A minor update so Asphyxious will do better against Infernals. This was already a playable caster, so this is just nice to have. What he does benefit from though, is the point drops that most of our heavies got, which is nice. More on that below.

The Witch Coven of Garlghast

No changes, still a fun caster. Wish their feat would be unnerfed (it used to give -2 MAT/RAT as well), because I’ve often found it difficult to get a lot out of, especially against a fast opponent.

Warwitch Deneghra

No changes, still great.

Wraith Witch Deneghra

No direct changes, but again, she does indirectly benefit from ‘jack updates. Not necessarily Nightmare (unchanged), but make sure to read about Deathjack below (spoiler: -5pt). They were already close, but I suspect they will be BFF’s after this update.

Deneghra, the Soul Weaver

ARM 18 (+2), Gains 5 boxes

Definitely a sorely needed and much appreciated update. Deneghra has the ability to be very tanky now, with a respectable 17/18 stat line if she wants to be. She still doesn’t have an attack spell, which might be for the best, but what really bothers me, and always will, is that her “dragon” has the stats of a chicken. Oh well, at least they reinforced the flimsy frame.

Goreshade the Bastard

29 WJPs (+2), new text for Shadowmancer:

While in spellcaster’s control range, models in its battlegroup gain Stealth XICONX and Dark Shroud. Shadowmancer lasts for one round. (While in the melee range of a model with Dark Shroud, enemy models suffer –2 ARM.)

Shadowmancer finally affects his control area, allowing him to keep more personally safe and his ‘jacks to spread out more while still benefitting from it. Stalkers can now project Dark Shroud very far, which is definitely nice, and he’s picked up some extra WJP in the deal as well. That last point is a trend for most casters that have a companion of sorts.

Goreshade the Cursed

No direct changes, but they did deem to add Deathjack to his favorite theme and he has a rather good spell list for that. Maybe there is something there.

Goreshade, Lord of Ruin

No changes, but I did notice that the old Kraken + double Bane Riders list gained quite a bit of points and is looking interesting.

Karchev & Deathjack, Malignant Fusion

These didn’t get changed in the update, but the full rules did release in War Room at the same time. Compared to my last article about them, the main things that changed is that the feat changed to a flat SPD of 8, rather than an out-of-activation move, and his jacks will get a focus when they end in melee with an enemy model. The gun now has no special effects other than being magical.
While I don’t mind that they got toned down somewhat, I must say that I’m rather disappointed by the way the devs did so. I was very excited for solving/presenting the puzzles that his feat could cause, especially all the options in conjunction with Meat for the Beast and Abattoir (probably more cute than good, but still) and they changed it to a flat increase that’s a slightly improved Escort-like effect for Cryx. I would’ve vastly preferred if they had kept the instant move, but made it smaller. On the plus side, they do have an easier time to fuel their ‘jacks, as the secondary effect will almost always trigger.
The gun was too good with drifting Shadowbind, but now it honestly feels boring; a RNG 10, POW 12 on a caster, the one model you need to keep safe, will see little use, in my opinion.

Honestly, for me, I feel like they took out all the effects that made this caster feel like a Cryx model (tricks and Shadowbind) and made him into a stat ball. It now feels like a Khador caster that works in Cryx, rather than a true dual faction model. Don’t get me wrong, I still think this is a strong caster, but I just wish they’d managed to make it more interesting.

Master Necrotech Mortenebra

28 WJPs (+4), Sacrificial Lamb text becomes: 

Up to two friendly warrior models in the spellcaster’s control range other than the spellcaster suffer 1d3 damage. For each damage dealt this way a model in the spellcaster’s battlegroup in the spellcaster’s control range gains 1 focus. A model may gain no more than 3 focus this way. Sacrificial Lamb can be cast only once per activation.

Again slightly improved WJP for casters that were “paying” for a companion, which is nice. On top of that, Morty1 has often felt disjointed because Overrun encourages having a high value battlegroup, while (old) Sacrificial Lamb would encourage having as many ‘jacks as possible. New Sacrificial Lamb fixes this problem somewhat and makes her more flexible. She can also use multi-wound models for it, if she doesn’t feel like killing her own army. Not only that, but she can now also give the focus to herself if she would need it.
Definitely an improvement in the larger scheme of things, but I suspect that I will still have a hard time building lists with her that I actually like.

Mortenebra, Numen of Necrogenesis

 cut locomotion, gain energizer, Feat becomes: “…models in her battlegroup gain Reposition [3”] and Flank [another…”

No more Deathjack jank by casting double Locomotion, but also no more confusion from new(er) players on why a Skarlock can’t cast the spell. I’m honestly quite excited about Energizer in faction. It’s a neat little spell that can solve a lot of problems and increases the threat range of our Warjacks.
The change to her feat is relatively minor, but is a nice quality of life gain so Flank would be a bit easier to chain.

Captain Rahera, Terror of the Wailing Sea

No changes, so not much to say.

Lord Exhumator Scaverous

No direct changes, but he was already a proper caster that mostly just struggled to get enough into his list. The general point drops will help with this.

Pirate Queen Skarre

Weapon name Great Rack becomes Horns

A non-change to get rid of the childish pun. I personally didn’t mind it, but I could see why they felt the need to change it.

Skarre, Queen of the Broken Coast

Weapon name Great Rack becomes Horns

See above. Aside from that, this is also a caster that will simply want to benefit from cheaper stuff.

Skarre, Admiral of the Black Fleet

No changes, was already a good caster, got more points left to spend on cool things. Not much else to say, really.

Sturgis the Corrupted

Cut convection, Cut Chain Attack: Dark Shroud, Gain Dark Shroud, POW of both melee weapons becomes 6 (-1) P+S 12 (-1), gain Chain Attack: Flash, gain Hellwrought, text of feat changes to:
Enemy non-warcaster, non-warlock, and non-infernal master models in Sturgis’s control range are pushed up to 3″ directly toward Sturgis in the order you choose. Then Sturgis gains 1 focus for each enemy model he is engaging and may make one basic attack with one of his melee weapons against each enemy model in his LOS that is in the melee weapon’s range. These attacks are simultaneous. Then, once this turn, anytime this activation except while resolving an attack you can place Sturgis anywhere completely within 3” of his current location.

This one’s a doozy. I don’t expect that Sturgis will be tearing up the meta any time soon, but he has a much cooler feat now, emphasizing his personal contribution and letting him get away more easily (chain attack + feat + Teleport). This also gives him a respectable personal threat range of 17-18″ (9″ Relentless charge + 2″ melee + 3″ chain attack, which you can engineer + 3″ feat place + 1″ from Darragh’s Death Ride) And he’s still a MAT 7, effective P+S 14 with Snap Strike, which is not too shabby.
I’m overjoyed that he now has Dark Shroud as a baseline ability, because it was very clunky to use before, and the new Chain Attack that he picked up is very cool. He’s also dropped his rather useless (second) attack spell and picked up the generally useful Hellwrought.
Even if it turns out that he’s not too great at the 75-point level, he can do cool things in Brawlmachine.

Lich Lord Terminus

29 WJPs (+2), New text for Sacrificial Pawn, Add to feat “regardless of the proximity of other models.” at the end of the first sentence.

The feat change is very nice for quality of life, as this means you don’t need to jump through hoops anymore to make sure Terminus grabs a soul instead of some other random dude. Aside from that, his kit does still feel a bit dated, but at least he picked up some extra WJP to compensate.

Lich Lord Venethrax

29 WJPs (+3)

Not the best caster, but he fills a niche and will be able to take more Warjacks, so can’t complain really.

Warjacks

Barathrum

13pts (-2)

One of our best (character) heavies got cheaper, nice!

Cankerworm

No changes. While I could think of a few things I’d like to see for this guy, and 9 points is starting to feel like a lot in today’s world, it’s still a nifty little ‘jack that I’ll often break out when I play Asphyxious.

Corruptor

12pts (-2)

Minus 2 points and no other changes makes me question if I’ll find a place for this guy. It’s an okay gun at an okay price point, I guess.

Deathjack

18pts (-5)

Minus 5 points! Considering the major issue with this guy was that it was nearly impossible to fit him into a list unless you had a very good justification for it, this is fantastic. At this point, I’d consider putting him in lists just for his output and durability. He won’t be in every list that can have him, I suspect, but he’s definitely a viable option in many.
It’s worth noting that many of our casters have around 28 WJP which perfectly fits Deathjack and 2 of the new Deathrippers.

Deathripper

5pts (-1)

Wait, our most ubiquitous arc node got cheaper? Oh well, I won’t complain. This does put a strain on all of his cousins though, but I’ll talk about those individually.

Defiler

7pts (-1)

The Defiler is still not a great jack and one of its biggest problems was that it was a full 2 points more expensive than the Deathripper, which it still is. Sorry, buddy.

Desecrator

12pts (-2)

The Desecrator already saw play and just got cheaper, which is great. You might even be able to squeeze in two of these guys along with a Deathripper all within a caster’s WJP. Agathia will probably like that.

Erebus

13pts (-3)

13 points honestly feels fair for Erebus at this point, but I’m still not sure if he’ll make it into many lists, as you usually have better things to spend points on in Black Industries, such as Barathrum, and Scaverous has Soul Harvester anyway.

Harrower

13pts (-3)

Still a bad gun and a MAT 6 Thresher. This ‘jack isn’t terrible, but I feel like it takes slightly too much effort to get him to work and there are better things at this price point. In my opinion, the gun could at least stand to be RNG 12 POW 13, but it’s possible they want to wait and see what happens with the nerfs to Soul Ward first.

Helldiver

No new changes, but with the relatively recent Burrow changes, it’s still cool.

Inflictor

11pts (-2), New text for Shield Guard

One of our most tanky ‘jacks got cheaper, which is nice.

Kharybdis

15pts (-2), Acid Cloud first sentence becomes “…at any time or before finishing a run or failed charge.”

A nice discount and now he can use his cloud after running or even failing a charge, so that’s nice.

Kraken

32pts (-3)

The Kraken is okay, but comparing it to some other colossals doesn’t always end up favorable to the squid. It’ll still see play in some lists here and there, but not much will change on the whole, I think.

Leviathan

14pts (-2), switch burst fire for volume fire

The point drop is nice, and this is now our most accurate gun platform (against the things that matter), which is definitely nice. However, I still feel like it could do with some compensation for the terrible D3 ROF. It’s always a feelsbad moment when you roll a 1, especially if you’ve happened to allocate 3 focus to it. I would’ve loved it if it’d picked up Reload [1], but I can understand that they want to see how this shakes out before making further changes.

Malice

13pts (-2), Drag text change 

Okay. Slightly cheaper for a potentially durable ‘jack. We’ll have to see how the general changes to Soul Ward affect the soul economy, but I still don’t feel like Malice brings all that much to the table.

Nightmare

Wow, after Deathjack and Barathrum I really expected Nightmare to go down to at least 16, possibly 15. No changes here is extremely disappointed and I feel like it will be very difficult to justify spending 18 on this ‘jack, which it honestly already was. Don’t get me wrong, Ghostly, Prey and Chain Attack are nice, but it’s still on a 10″ (base) charge range ,and in those cases Prey isn’t all that difficult to play around.
Compared to a baseline Slayer, you lose Combo Strike for Chain Attack (+1 pt?), gain +1 ARM and STR (+1pt?), gain Ghostly and the Bond (+1/2pt) and Prey (+1/2pt). I’d personally value Prey only at 1 point for the aforementioned reason, but even if you charge it at 2, I really don’t see how this ‘jack is worth anything more than 16, especially compared to the likes of Barathrum. Maybe that’s just me.
I must admit, after the changes to DJ were spoiled, I got my hopes up for old Nightmare, so that does leave me slightly more disappointed than I would’ve been.

Nightwretch

Oof, no changes puts it at the same price point as the Defiler, which is 2 more than the Deathripper. I used to play this ‘jack from time to time, if I had a point to spare, because the gun is quite nice. At a 2-point price hike, I will find it difficult to include in lists.

Reaper

11pts (-2), Drag text change 

This puts it at the same price point as the Inflictor, it still threatens 11″ in melee, which is one of the highest threat ranges we have, and Drag is undeniably better. Maybe it’ll find itself into more lists in the future.

Ripjaw

6pts (-1)

At least we still have an option that’s only 1 point more than the Deathripper. I’ve often found it difficult to get the most out of this one though, as you mostly rely on the crit effect, which I dislike doing. The Deathripper is still cheaper, and is a bargain right now even, so I don’t think I will use a Ripjaw much. Maybe with Skarre1 or Venethrax, which I was already occasionally doing.

Scavenger

6pts (-1)

Great, points for more birds.

Seether

12pts (-1)

This is one of the “changes” I’m most salty about. While the Seether has great output for its cost, there’s very little reason why this ‘jack in particular is the only bipedal DEF 12 heavy in the faction. Not only that, but this update would’ve been the perfect opportunity to get rid of the archaic, clunky, and frankly bad, Uncontrollable Rage, especially when a much more elegant version of the rule, Aggressive, already exists.
This is just about the only model that I had gotten my hopes up about and my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined. So, remember kids: keep your expectations low and you won’t get disappointed!

Sepulcher

32pts (-2), switch burst fire for volume fire

Good changes, but its “proper” guns are still RNG 10 which is rough. If they’d been bumped up to RNG 13, it might fill a niche. Especially since its other unique ability is still tethered to Mechanithralls, which are in a theme where you don’t really want to play a Sepulcher, because it doesn’t benefit from Carapace. 2 Leviathans will probably be a better gun platform, for cheaper, and I don’t even like Leviathans.

Shrike

5pts (-1)

More birds!

Slayer

No changes, but was already a decent ‘jack, for Cryx.

Stalker

No changes, and at 8 points you might actually start to consider not taking it in favour of other lights. That said, the Stalker will of course still see play in the right list.

Units

Asphyxious the Sanctified

ARM 16 (-1), Cut Leadership [Construct] – Bloodthirst, Swap Flicker for Vanish

It’s probably a good thing that Gaspy4 got toned down a little, because he made it into almost every list and usually performed well on the table. I will personally particularly feel the loss of Bloodthirst; as a (melee) “glass cannon” faction I often feel like Cryx lacks some way to easily increase threat ranges, outside of casters. +2 against only living models may not seem like much, but I face a lot of Legion and there it can be the difference between life and death, facing Archangels with access to Full Steam. A lot of casters are also living, so it helped to push back some of the more aggressive casters. He’ll still make it into lists, but the faction’s Warjacks being stuck at 10″ threat range again, does stink. Note that this also means that his Servitors are tethered to a 9.5″ threat range, combined with the loss of Flicker.
The -1 ARM was probably justified, and he can usually stay far enough back for the first few turns anyway. Flicker for Vanish is an interesting change. I would often use Flicker to push my bots to give a little bit further on the run for Gang Fighter and/or Dark Shroud, so I’ll miss that. Vanish is however very useful for his own performance, as it ups his effective threat range by 1″ and allows him to get there with 1 extra focus. It can also be used to reposition a little after putting out 2 clouds, something that was more difficult to do before.
I really do feel like they’ve managed to tone down this model in some areas where it was overbearing, while giving it other avenues of viability. RIP Bloodthirst though.

Bane Knights

8/13pts (-1/-2)

Cheaper Banes is nice.

Bane Riders

11/17pts (-1/-3)

20 points for a max unit was definitely on the hefty side, so this discount is very welcome indeed.

Bane Warriors

8/14pts (-2/-2)

Cheaper Banes are still cheaper Banes.

Bile Thralls

6/9pts (-3/-6)

Now you won’t pay an arm and a leg for victim statted mooks with a low threat range, but you’re still paying for them. This does make it more palatable, but they are still easy to control, kill, and/or stay away from. I doubt they will find a place in many of my lists.

Black Ogrun Boarding Party

Drag text change 

These were already playable by virtue of being relatively cheap for high quality attacks and decent bodies. This is a nice quality of life upgrade.

Black Ogrun Ironmongers

5pts (-1)

They were already good, and played, they’re now cheaper.

Black Ogrun Smog Belchers

8/14pts (-1/-1)

I always find it difficult to include these in lists, even though they are nice in theory. They’re rather expensive for 3-5 RAT 6, POW 13’s and I don’t think this discount really changes that, especially in a theme where already you have so much variety and want Gang Fighter triggers.

Blackbane’s Ghost Raiders

9/15pts (-2/-2)

Nice discount and they might see play sometimes in Ghost Fleet, which is still their only theme.

Blighted Trollkin Marauders

8/14pts (-1/-1)

Good unit becomes cheaper, no complaints.

Bloodgorgers

8/13pts (-1/-2)

It’s nice that they are now slightly cheaper than their fiery cousins. While they are a decent unit, they are much more narrow compared to the flexible Marauders, so it’s nice to get some (extra) incentive to put them on the table.

Carrion Thralls

Not a bad unit, might see play in some Thrall lists, but sadly I’m not sure if we’ll see many of those. I still like them with Asphyxious3, who might now actually have some more spare points to bring them.

Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges

7/10pts (-1/-2). Drudges become DEF 12 (+1), ARM 16 (+1). Mind Slaver Gains Sacrificial Pawn [Unit]

Well, this is nice, and they are very cheap now. They could serve as fodder in Scourge of the Broken Coast, but they are still SPD 5, so it might be rough.

Cephalyx Overlords

6pts (-2)

Wow, that’s a hefty discount for a unit that already saw some play. I might actually randomly put them in some lists again that don’t use the Merc slot for anything else.

The Devil’s Shadow Mutineers

Blood-Bound – When this model destroys a living enemy model with an attack during its activation, after the attack is resolved you can return one destroyed model in this unit to play. Place the returned model completely within 3˝ of this model. The returned model cannot activate the turn it returns to play. The destroyed enemy model is removed from play and does not provide a soul or corpse token.

A simple change to Blood-Bound so Legion of Lost Souls can’t come back on out-of-activation attacks anymore. I suppose that this also applies to Rahera’s shenanigans for us. They’re not a bad unit, but I’ve often found myself reach for others first. Now that Overlords are even cheaper, I’m not sure we’ll see a lot of the Mutineers anymore.

Mechanithralls

Still the anchor by which you bring Brute Thralls. Their stats for cost don’t really allow them to get more work done than other similarly priced model, in my opinion, but they’re still decent fodder.

Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls

2pts (-2), New text for Sacrificial Pawn

Having these be cheaper is actually interesting. A waste of a requisition slot, but interesting nonetheless. I wouldn’t say it’s the advent of the return of Cryx recursion, but now at least you won’t feel bad paying for them; they’re some of the cheapest models point for point available in the faction. You might even bring them as contesters that recur themselves and heal your caster from time to time.

Revenant Cannon Crew

4pts (-1)

Cool.
For a somewhat more elaborate take, if you’re not taking them for free in Ghost Fleet, this sweetens the deal a bit and perhaps lays the groundwork for a true gunline in Cryx.

Revenant Crew of the Atramentous

Gain Point-Blank

Finally, the injustice of the Black Fleet CID has been undone! Mind you, these are still expensive, especially in a world where many things got cheaper, and their shtick isn’t as hard to counter in today’s meta than it was back in the day. Yet, this change should at least give the pirates some teeth again, where volume of attacks might make up for lack of quality, especially with certain casters *cough*Denny1*cough*.

Satyxis Blood Witches

7/11pts (-1/-2)

Them being cheaper seems fair. I’ll probably still only play them as an Ambush unit, but it should be more comfortable to actually fit them in a list again.

Satyxis Gunslingers

6pts (-1)

Nice discount that might help them see the table slightly more often.

Satyxis Raiders

9/14pts (-1/-2)

Again a nice discount for a unit that was costed like elite infantry yet needed help both in the survival as well as the output department. Should be decent.

Scharde Dirge Seers

5pts (-1), swap needle for incise

Point cost reduction isn’t super relevant on something that will almost always be free, but it’s still nice. The real kicker is that they’ve finally learned to effectively stab non-living models, so that’ll help.

Scharde Pirates

8/13pts (-0/-1) Gain assault

I personally feel like this finally brings them to the baseline that they always should’ve been, where they can function on their own, and the Officer is just nice to have. Bringing the max unit should also be a little less painful. It’s hard to say if this will make them see play though; most models in Scourge got a discount and this is still our most versatile theme. That said, I have liked them on occasion simply because they’re fast enough to apply Gang Fighter where you want it.

Soulhunters

10/16pts (-1/-2), gain Soul Reserve:
Soul Reserve – This model begins the game with a soul token.

They’re still frail, but at least they’re now a bit cheaper and start with a Soul token. Most likely said token will be use to go Incorporeal at will to get long charges off. Before, you were rarely able to use this ability as they needed to always be up close to gain souls in the first place. Good change for sure.

The Withershadow Combine

7pts (-2)

Well, 9 points was frankly ridiculous for something that’s primarily support, so I can only applaud this change. They will definitely find their way into my lists more often now.

Attachments

Bane Knight Officer

No change, but I like the guy; he offers a lot to the unit, which did get cheaper.

Bane Warrior Officer & Standard

No change, but same comment as the Bane Knight Officer above really.

Brute Thrall

New text for Shield Guard

Will still be taken as a requisition option in BI. Effectively no changes anyway.

Jussika Bloodtongue

4pt (-1)

5 points did feel a bit steep for her, now you won’t always feel obligated to spend a requisition option.

Revenant Crew Rifleman

gain Point-Blank

Clerical update to go with the rest of the Crew.

Satyxis Blood Hag

No change, but she already brings a lot to the unit, although an argument could be made that she is a bit expensive to add onto a unit that you will always put in ambush anyway.

Satyxis Raider Sea Witch

3pts (-1), Gains Blast Resistance, Change text of Whipping Winds:’Blast Resistance – This model gains +4 ARM against blast damage.
Whipping Winds – Affected models gain Force Barrier for one round. Models are not affected while out of formation. (A model with Force Barrier gains +2 DEF against ranged attack rolls and Blast Resistance.)

A lot of models got changed to gain this new “Blast Resistance” rather than straight blast immunity. It’s of course undeniable worse, but take comfort in knowing that this wasn’t specifically targeted at Cryx. With ARM 16, they will still shrug off most unboosted non-High Explosive blast damage and the numbers only go up under Deceleration, which now at least does something for them.
The fact that the Sea Witch picked it up base line is a pleasant surprise and I won’t complain about the cost reduction, leaving the full unit at 17. An even 20 including a Captain.

Scharde Pirate Officer

3pts (-1), gain assault, cut granted assault

A simple update to bring her in line with the unit. Note that she still grants Feign Death and access to the No Quarter mini-feat to the unit. I would’ve wished for Granted: Rise, but you can’t have it all.

Skarlock Commander

Gains the soul spending ability: Invigorate

Once per turn, this model can spend a soul token anytime during its activation, if it does each model in its unit gains +1 to attack rolls until the end of the turn.

An interesting ability to be sure. We’ll need to see if this brave new world allows for a bit more soul collection than before. So far, I have found it difficult to find the extra 3 points when making my BI lists, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t a good change; the Thralls can certainly use the help hitting.

Solos

Agrimony, Crone of the Dying Strands

3pts (-1)

Bringing her more in line with similar solos.

Aiakos, Scourge of the Meredius

Harpoon becomes RNG 10 (+4), Swap Jump for Leap

Leap – After it makes a full advance during its Normal Movement but not during its combat action, you can place this model anywhere completely within 5˝of its current location this activation.

Drag text changes to: When this attack hits an enemy model with an equal or smaller base, immediately after the attack is resolved the enemy model can be pushed directly toward this model until it contacts a model, an obstacle, or an obstruction. After the enemy model is moved, this model can make one basic melee attack against the enemy model. After resolving this melee attack, this model can make additional melee attacks during its Combat Action.

Aiakos1 got the same changes as his second incarnation, except Blood Boon, and thus the need for the Aim for the Shoulder rule. These changes will make it much more likely for him to pop out and take a random pot shoot, before leaping back to safety. I like it.

Axiara Wraithblade

5pts (-1)

A simple change so she can still be free.

Bane Lord Tartarus

5pts (-1)

This will be a recurring theme, where previously 6-point solos go down to 5.

Bloat Thrall

2pts (-2)

2 points for a Bloat Thrall honestly makes it a much more interesting choice. At this price point you can start considering them for list fillers, instead of having to bend over backwards to squeeze them in.

Bloat Thrall Overseer Mobius

4pts (-2)

Mobius even goes down to 4. It’s not much, as he will most likely be a requisition option, but this paired with some other choices, might actually put him on the table from time to time. He’s still a fairly accurate shot with a relatively long range and decent POW.

Captain Rengrave

4pts (-1)

You’ll probably still be taking all the Riflemen for free in GF, so not paying as much for solos is nice.

Darragh Wrathe

7pts (-2)

I’ve been feeling like this would be a more reasonable price point for Darragh for a while now. He was playable at 9 and I definitely won’t complain about this change.

Doctor Stygius

No change, still good.

General Gerlak Slaughterborn

5pts (-1)

Small change, still free.

Hellslinger Phantom

6pts (-1)

Auch, it was already increasingly hard for the Hellslinger Phantom to make it into lists, as he can often not get the souls he craves to be effective. With this non-change, which makes it impossible to use him as a requisition point, I feel he won’t see the table very often anymore, especially when we also have Ol’ Grim available, who does a similar job at a longer range.

Iron Lich Overseer

3pts (-2) Switch Soul Taker: Soul Cage for Soul Taker: Soul Harvest:
This model can gain soul tokens. When a living enemy model is destroyed within 2” of this model or a warjack it controls in its command range, this model gains the destroyed model’s soul token. This model can have up to three soul tokens at any time. This model can spend soul tokens for the following:

An interesting change, where now the ILO’s marshaled (melee) ‘jack will be able to collect souls for it. This means that the Iron Lich Overseer will be able to stay in the backlines and, hopefully, become a late game asset once he’s gotten a few souls.
He still suffers from the problem that most of our lists that want to take ‘jacks, would actually prefer to take them on the Warcaster, but maybe with the nerfs to Gaspy4, and the discounts on our ‘jacks, the field is a bit more favourable towards the ILO.

Machine Wraith

Was already good.

Master Gurglepox

With the sweeping changes to requisition options, I have already given up hope to take Gurglepox for free, but I often still find it hard to slot into lists as an arc node that can’t be bought with WJP. Especially now that the cheapest arc node is a mere 5 points.

Misery Cage

No change, but is fine as a one-of.

Necrotech

1pt (-1)

Now this is cheap and very nice as a filler. Makes you feel slightly bad about bringing 3 for free in Black Industries though. But that theme honestly lost quite a bit of the more “expensive” requisition options, between the character Wraiths and the point reductions.

Ol’ Grim

Still the same, but can’t be free anymore, with a slightly higher chance to make it into lists than the Hellslinger Phantom.

Pistol Wraith

4pts (-1)

Not bad, might see some play as a ranged requisition option.

Satyxis Blood Priestess

The same as ever.

Satyxis Raider Captain

3pts (-1)

As mentioned above when I talked about the Satyxis Raiders, this brings the Captain in line with other point reductions.

Scrap Thrall

Still the same.

Severa Blacktide

5pts (-1)

Still free, luckily.

Skarlock Thrall

3pts (-1)

At least it’s somewhat of a choice now between the Skarlock and Stygius, though the latter still does every part of the job better. I would’ve loved for it to pick up some sort of (caster) support ability, but alas.

Soul Trapper

Gains Soul Shroud:

While this model has one or more soul tokens it has incorporeal.

I honestly find this a very interesting change. Picking up souls should be slightly easier and then this 1-point model will at least take a modicum of effort to take out before delivering its prize. While most lists do have a fair few magical weapons available, they’re not always at liberty to be spent on take out chaff.

Warwitch Initiate Deneghra

5 focus (+1), 5pts (+1)

She’ll be able to hit slightly more often, will be able to actually upkeep her spell as well as cast a boosted Venom or Curse of Shadows. And, she will still be able to be taken for free. With the cheaper arc node, i.e. the Deathripper, this might actually be a valid choice, though I fear many lists will still find it hard to justify for an extra unreliable debuff.

Warwitch Siren

3pts (-1), New text for Seduction (★Action) 

RNG 3. Take control of a living enemy non-warcaster, non-warlock warrior model. If the model is in range, you can immediately make a full advance with the enemy model followed by a basic melee attack, then Seduction expires. The enemy model cannot be targeted by free strikes during this movement. A model can be affected by Seduction only once per turn.

I’ve often felt Sirens were slightly too expensive at 4 and my prayers seem to have been answered. Seduction at a longer range is quite frankly also fantastic. She’ll have a much easier time seducing other models to get off flags or away from zones.

Battle Engines

Wraith Engine

No changes is slightly disappointed as its still one of the only battle engines without a ranged attack, which thus has to put itself in harm’s way to deal damage. Its support abilities are still sometimes nice to have, but I would’ve loved for it to pick up some damaging spell, even if it was something terrible, like Bleed. That or a point reduction.

Themes

In general, our themes actually changed very little, apart from the game-wide change to the requisition solos. I feel like this left many of them in a bit of a weird spot, but most other factions are in the same situation.

Black Industries

This appears the be the theme that has lost the most with the change in requisitions options, with many of the remaining ones feeling disjointed. Thralls got mostly better, or at least cheaper, but it will still be mostly a Warjack theme for me, as there’s Carapace and most of our heavies also got a point reduction.

Dark Host

+: Deathjack

Wow, this was unexpected. I’m not entirely sure how Deathjack ties into Dark Host, except necromancy, I guess, but I do like that this opens up the theme for some of the casters that like to play DJ, like Scaverous and Deneghra2.
In a way, this helps the theme a lot concerning options, because while Banes all got cheaper, the theme is still lacking for variety and having Deathjack does present some new options.

The Ghost Fleet

This theme can again be played as the recurring infantry swarm it used to be. With the changes to points and requisitions, I feel like you’ll usually build it one of 2 ways: either as an Incorporeal skew, or a true infantry gunline, with all the solos, rifles and cannons. You can even include Madelyn Corbeau so you can bring princess Graciela along.

Scourge of the Broken Coast

There are a bunch of point reductions, but I don’t really feel like the way you build this theme has significantly changed. You’ll just be able to include more stuff, and maybe you’ll see some more Satyxis again as opposed to Trollkin all the time.

Conclusion

As a whole, I do think we got off better than before, and the few nerfs that we did get were mostly justified. Everyone got new and improved toys though, and it’s not like we made out like bandits, so the actual impact this will have remains to be seen. As a whole, I don’t feel like we will be off better, but also not worse, compared to the rest of the field. However, if infantry starts becoming a bit more popular again, paired with the nerf to Soul Ward and price hikes for Archons, it might mean that Cryx will start seeing more of its preferred prey across the table again. Only time will tell.

Like I said before, I feel like there are a lot less requisition options that “feel good” to take. This is likely intentional, to dispel the illusion of choice where people often just kept going for the most expensive options, and increase variety in lists. Still I can’t help but think that most themes could use a good looking at, just to reorganize some options and so you don’t need to have the explicit option to take a 1- or 2-point solo/unit for free. Perhaps evening combining some 2-, or even 3-, pointers into a single choice would also be nice. It’s likely that this was not actually overlooked, but was simply out of scope for this round of updates. As such, we’ll probably, hopefully, see some more changes for the better in the not so distant future.

If you have another opinion, feel free to let me know what you think! Also, please let me know if I forgot anything; this was quite a big one, so oversights are always possible.