Berserker

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Berserker Khador Heavy Warjack

There is something uniquely terrifying about the Berserker. The oldest of Khadoran warjacks still in service, the 'jacks have become unstable over the decades and are prone to charge without orders when near the frenzy of combat. Worse yet, their cortex alloys have become critically decayed and risk massive concussive overload when stimulated by arcane energy.

Basic Info

Berserker
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Large SPD 4 STR 11 MAT 6 RAT N/A M.A. N/A DEF 11 ARM 18 CMD N/A ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS N/A FURY N/A THRS N/A HP 27 (★) F. Field N/A WJP {{{wjp}}} WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} UNIT SIZE N/A COST 8 N/A N/A FA U (★) Has only 2 Cortex hitboxes Warcaster 1 BASE N/A SPD N/A STR N/A MAT N/A RAT N/A DEF N/A ARM N/A CMD N/A FOCUS N/A FURY N/A THRS N/A HP N/A WJP N/A WBP N/A UNIT SIZE N/A COST N/A FA N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

Abilities

• Warjack - All warjacks share the same set of special rules. Most notably being big and stompy. Click the link for a full run-down.
• Construct
• Berserk - When this model destroys one or more models with a melee attack during its Combat Action, immediately after the attack is resolved it must make one additional melee attack against another model in its melee range.
• Unstable - At the end of an activation in which this model spent more than 1 focus point, roll a d6. If the roll is equal to or less than the number of focus points spent, this model explodes and other models within 3" of it suffer an unboostable POW 14 blast damage roll. Remove this model from play.

Weapons

• War Axe (x2) - 1" reach, POW 5, P+S 16 melee attacks

Theme Forces

• Khador
  • Armored Korps
  • Flame in the Darkness. This warjack can be "shared" by Cygnar or Mercenary models in this theme.
  • Jaws of the Wolf. Berserker gains Pathfinder in this theme.
  • Legion of Steel
  • Warriors of the Old Faith. This warjack can be "shared" by Protectorate models in this theme.
  • Winter Guard Kommand
  • Wolves of Winter

• Infernals
  • Hearts of Darkness. Berserkers can only go in this theme if Malakov2 is leading the army. They become an Infernal warjack and gain Accumulator [Soulless] in this theme.

Recent Changes

No changes since 2018.04

Thoughts on the Berserker

Classic Sculpt

Berserker in a Nutshell

"Archaic" Khadoran warjacks are typified by their Unstable cortexes that have begun degrading over their many decades of use. Not one to waste resources, the Khadoran military continues to employ them even as their cortexes have become vulnerable to critical malfunction when overexerted, resulting in spectacular explosions. These cheap and expendable 'jacks have only become more vicious with age and their propensity for blowing up under strain is more typically seen as a benefit, than as a limitation... Treat them as light warjacks on heavy bases and pick their targets accordingly, tailoring their functions to their three very different possible loadouts:

• Berserkers wield heavy twin War Axes to rampage through enemy lines, each kill spurring them on to more destruction as their Berserker frenzy sets in.
• Mad Dogs are specifically engineerd to trample through enemy infantry, flailing their Hammer Spikes against anything in reach.
• Ragers are stout guardians equipped with a heavy Shield fitted with a Shield Cannon, backed up by a massive Gladius shortsword to function as a Shield Guard for their controllers.

Of the archaic Khadoran warjacks, the Berserker sees probably the most time on the battlefield. Cheap, flexible and aggressive, it finds a way into numerous builds looking for a volume of melee warjacks to go to town with. With a name like "Berserker" you might expect its main asset lies in its Berserk ability, but you'd be wrong. Berserk is a thematic, but sadly very situational ability. Without something like Bulldoze or Overtake the Berserker lacks a way to close the distance to a new target after taking one down. No, the Berserker is so popular because it's an excessively cheap heavy warjack with two decently-powered initial melee attacks. A horde of Berserkers under the effects of global buffs punch far above their weight, allowing them to trade up at a relatively low points investment. They're reasonably tough for their cost and when things go awry you can load them up with focus and fish for a small thermonuclear strike to earn its points back and then some.

Combos & Synergies

The Berserker has low SPD, MAT and middling POW on its War Axes. It revels working under controllers that can boost precisely these aspects without needing to rely on focus allocation which might cause it to blow its stack prematurely. It's a great battlegroup warjack, but also performs expertly as a Marshaled 'jack under commands like Crush!, Hurry! and Strike True! to bump its melee prowess.

    Warcasters    

• Butcher1: Despite being unable to help them with their mobility, Orsus is an excellent warcaster for archaic 'jacks, combining his extremely efficient Full Throttle spell with his Blood Frenzy feat to turn them into absolute melee monsters for a turn. A small horde of Berserkers and Ragers make for a terribly efficent battlegroup, at a rock-bottom cost.
• Butcher2: If he's able to take the lead to trigger his Conferred Rage, archaic warjacks under Orsus' "supervision" become dangerously quick and accurate--further pushed by his classic Boundless Charge spell to help them over rough terrain--and they're great vessels for rage tokens from his feat.
• Karchev the Terrible: The Man in the Machine loves a volume of archaic warjacks to multiply the effects of his feat, Battle-Charged, Jumpstart and Road to War to create a roiling engine of destruction. He needs to knock his targets down to help his warjacks hit things however, so be sure to take that into account.
• Sorscha3: Flank Man-o-War elevates Berserkers and Ragers from dangerous to lethal in melee and her Stoke the Fires spell pushes their mobility and aggression to match their appetites. They're simply perfect matches for each other.
• Vlad1: Both thematic and extremely synergistic, archaic warjacks thrive under the combined effects of Boundless Charge, the signaturate Signs and Portents and his devastating Forced March feat. Vladimir efficiently boosts them in every way they care about, they're excellent together.
• Vlad3: Beyond fixing their SPD and accuracy against warriors with Infernal Machine his feat is one of the few ways a Berserker can exploit its Berserk ability, in this case using Side Step to move from model to model, easily clearing out entire units in an activation.
• Zerkova2: While relying on focus allocation through Sacrificial Lamb to push archaic 'jacks, she can run a large battlegroup for the cost of something like a Mechanik per activation. They don't roll for Unstable unless they actually spent the focus allocated to them so there's no risk of blowing up your horde before you're good and ready. Beyond that, her armies tend to Freeze models regularly, and stationary models make for great targets. And they'e completely respectable Telgesh Mark-created Arc Nodes to boot!

    Battlegroup Controllers    
Archaic warjacks are great picks for Battlegroup Controllers because the controllers themselves can be quite vulnerable and losing a big stack of points to an inert warjack is a good way to lose a match. Archaic warjacks are dirt-cheap, mitigating the risk of losing a battle when a controller goes down.

• Kovnik Andrei Malakov: His signature Redline spell is excellent on these expendable warjacks and he has enough focus to load one up and send it in for a glorious assault.
• Kovnik Apprentice Kratikoff: Fog of War offers protection against ranged attacks and Boundless Charge is excellent on the sluggish archaic warjacks. She has just enough focus to load one up up for a frenzy and will continue to help her Winter Guard comrades even after it has done its job and either retired for the day, or exploded into a ball of white fire.

    'Jack Marshals    

• Greylord Forge Seer: Both a great Marshal and support model for the Berserker, it likes being safely Empowered and makes decent use of his Drive.
• Man-o-War Kovnik: Using their Slam Power Attack ability tees target models up for easy hits and although the Berserker doesn't benefit from the Drive, it does work well with the combat-oriented Kovnik.

    Other    

• Battle Mechaniks: While typically hard to reach, the Berserker can be Repaired, although archaic warjacks probably aren't worth the effort most of the time.
• Colbie Sterling/Gobber Tinker/Raluk Moorclaw: These three are Mechanikally Adept, meaning they can Repair Khador models, although archaic warjacks probably aren't worth the effort most of the time.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Typical for Khadoran warjacks, it has low native SPD and DEF.
• If it can't reach melee it can't do much.
• Its POW 16 attacks aren't as threatening against high-ARM models without a damage buff.
• Its reduced number of Cortex boxes makes it more vulnerable to targeted attacks that can easily cripple critical systems.

Tricks & Tips

• Never forget that Unstable can work to your advantage. There are a lot of things that don't like taking an auto-hitting POW 14 to the face. And remember, that ear-splitting KABOOM isn't a 3" AOE; it's everything within 3" of the model.
  • For this maneuver to work, the Berserker needs both it Cortex and Movement systems to be functional.

Other

Trivia

• Originally released in Warmachine: Escalation (2004).
• The parts to build a Berseker, Mad Dog or Rager are contained in the same box, so you can use magnets to swap their Profile-specific parts for a three-in-one warjack.

Other Khador Models

Khador Index       (Edit)
Battlegroup & Similar
Warcasters	Butcher1 - Butcher2 - Butcher3 - Harkevich - Irusk1 - Irusk2 - Karchev - Kozlov - Malakov2 - Old Witch1 - Old Witch2 - Sorscha1 - Sorscha2 - Sorscha3 - Strakhov1 - Strakhov2 - Vlad1 - Vlad2 - Vlad3 - Zerkova1 - Zerkova2
Warcaster attachments	Khador: War Dog - Greylord Adjunct Mercenary: Madelyn Corbeau - Reinholdt - Wyshnalyrr
Other Warjack Controllers	"Junior" Warcasters: Malakov1 - Sorscha0 'Jack Marshals: Man-o-War Kovnik - Greylord Forge Seer
Heavy Warjacks	Berserker - Decimator - Demolisher - Destroyer - Devastator - Grolar - Juggernaut - Kodiak - Mad Dog - Marauder - Rager - Spriggan Beast-09 - Behemoth - Black Ivan - Drago - Ruin - Torch
Colossal	Conquest - Victor
Units, Solos, & Battle Engines
Units	Assault Kommandos - Battle Mechaniks - Black Dragons - Doom Reaver Swordsmen - Greylord Outriders - Greylord Ternion - Iron Fang Pikemen - Iron Fang Uhlans - Kayazy Assassins - Kayazy Eliminators - Kossite Woodsmen - MOW Bombardiers - MOW Demolition Corps - MOW Shocktroopers - Widowmaker Scouts - WG Field Gun - WG Infantry - WG Mortar Crew - WG Rifle Corps Great Bears of the Gallowswood - MOW Atanas & Standard Ranking Officer CA : Koldun Kapitan Valachev
Solos	Greylord Adjunct - Greylord Forge Seer - Iron Fang Kovnik - Koldun Lord - MOW Drakhun - MOW Kovnik - MOW Strike Tanker - MOW Suppresion Tanker - Manhunter - War Dog - Widowmaker Marksman - WG Artillery Kapitan Fenris - Jozef - Malakov1 - Markov - Sofya - Sorscha0 - Yuri
Battle Engines	Gun Carriage - Man-o-War Siege Chariot - Man-o-War Assault Chariot
Theme Forces
Armored Korps - Flame in the Darkness - Jaws of the Wolf - Legion of Steel - Warriors of the Old Faith - Winter Guard Kommand - Wolves of Winter
Mercenaries
Refer to Who Works for Whom and/or Category: Khador Mercenary
This index was last updated: 2019.08

Rules Clarifications

Rules Clarification : Warjack      (Edit) The Cortex/Induction core rule means a warjack cannot have more than 3 focus at any time (maybe 4 if they're really special). Many abilities give out focus and don't state an upper limit (such as Convection and Empower). Despite not stating an upper limit, they are always "hard-limited" by the core rule. A warjack can have more than 3 focus during a turn, though. For instance, a knocked down warjack can Power Up and be Allocated 2 focus, then spend 1 to shake knockdown, then another model could Empower it back up to 3. Warjacks cannot spend focus outside of their activation. For instance, they can't boost free strikes or trigger Powerful Attack on Broadsides. (Infernal Ruling) Inert warjacks Abilities that say they cannot be used if the model is stationary (such as Shield Guard) cannot be used while a warjack is inert, either. Refer "Warcaster Destruction", page 59 of the core rulebook.

Rules Clarification : Construct - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Berserk      (Edit) Berserk grants an additional attack which by definition can only occur during your Combat Action. Therefore Berserk doesn't work on free strikes, impact attacks, etc. If Berserk triggers at the same time as another "attack generating" ability (such as Black Spot), Berserk means you must make an attack. (Infernal Ruling) In other words you can't say "I trigger both Berserk and Black Spot, I choose Black Spot, Black Spot is optional, so I'm not making any more attacks". If your other generated-attack is a ranged attack (such as Quick Work or Kill Shot) then you can't use it. Not unless everything in melee range is dead, at which point you can't resolve Berserk. (Infernal Ruling) "Immediately" means you can't save it until later in your activation. Berserk must be resolved at step 14 of the attack sequence (refer Apdx A). You cannot use "Any Time" abilities while resolving the original attack, the Berserk attack, or between the attacks. Refer Apdx A. Berserk doesn't trigger during a frenzy. (Infernal Ruling) Berserk will not trigger if the target uses an ability to move the damage to another model (such as a warlock transfer). But it will trigger if they use an ability to move the attack to a different model (such as Grim Salvation).

Rules Clarification : Unstable      (Edit) You have to resolve Unstable even if some other triggered ability causes a "activation ends immediately" situation. (Infernal Ruling) Not considered an attack / Pure damage roll (Edit)   [Show/Hide] Some attacks create a "secondary damage" roll that is explicitly "not considered an attack" (such as Electro Leap); while other abilities just tell you to make a "pure damage" roll without mentioning attacks at all (such as Vent Steam). In terms of interacting with 'attack triggers' (such as Vengeance) "secondary damage" and "pure damage" work the same. When one attack triggers a secondary damage roll, the original attack and damage is definitely an attack and triggers stuff normally. Secondary/pure damage is not an attack, so doesn't trigger stuff like Vengeance. Secondary/pure damage (normally) doesn't actually hit the model(s) it damages, so doesn't trigger stuff like Shock Field. (A few of them do specify they hit, though, like Warhead.) Secondary/pure damage is not from an attack, but it is damage from the original model. This has two implications: It's not an attack from a weapon so: it won't gain damage buffs from the weapon (such as Poison). it won't gain any Damage Types from the weapon. (Infernal Ruling) It is a damage roll from a model so: it can be boosted. (Infernal Rulings) ... unless the rule specifically says it can't, like a Scrap Thrall explosion or Lightning Generator. it will gain benefits that worded "this model gains ... on damage rolls" (such as Prey). (Infernal Ruling) warbeasts with a Crippled Body will roll one less die. (Infernal Ruling)