Desecrator

Desecrator Cryx Heavy Warjack

Prime This model is available in one Prime Army, Dark Host. It can also be used in the Unlimited game mode. You can view the other Mk3 models that made it into a Legacy Army at this page. Note that the rest of this page is about the model's Mark III rules.

The Desecrator rises from the ocean's deep, black waters, a terrible sight to behold. The soldiers of the mainland dread encountering its hulking alien form, as their armored formations are no protection from the flesh-eating death its plague bringer renders. Troops have been known to turn their weapons upon themselves rather then suffer its wasting fire. Those who survive the Desecrator's initial volley find the machine already upon them and their blood-curdling shrieks cut short as its vivisector minces their flesh.

Basic Info

Desecrator
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Large SPD 5 STR 12 MAT 6 RAT 5 M.A. N/A DEF 12 ARM 18 CMD N/A ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS N/A FURY N/A THRS N/A HP 30 F. Field N/A WJP {{{wjp}}} WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} FA U UNIT SIZE N/A COST 12 N/A N/A N/A Warcaster 1 COST N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

Warjack - All warjacks share the same set of special rules. Most notably being big and stompy. Click here for a newbie-friendly recap, or click here for the full rules.

Abilities

• Amphibious
• Construct
• Pathfinder
• Accumulator [Bane] - When it begins its activation within 3" of one or more other friendly Bane models, this model gains 1 focus point.
• Steady - This model cannot become knocked down.

Weapons

Plague Bringer
		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW
		12			1			4			14
Damage Type: Corrosion Void Field – This attack’s AOE is a hazard that remains in play for one round. Non-undead models entering or ending their activations in the AOE suffer 1 point of corrosion damage.
Vivisector
		RNG				POW				P+S
		1				5				17
Critical Shred - On a critical hit with this weapon during this model's Combat Action, after the attack is resolved this model can make one additional attack with this weapon against the model hit. Grievous Wounds - A model hit by this weapon loses Tough and cannot have damage removed from it for one round.

Theme Forces

• Cryx
  • Black Industries. Desecrator gains Carapace in this theme.
  • Dark Host
  • Scourge of the Broken Coast. Desecrator gains Gang Fighter in this theme.
  • The Ghost Fleet

• Other Factions
  • Infernal players can use this model in the Hearts of Darkness theme, but only if Mortenebra is leading the army. It gains Accumulator [Soulless] in this theme.
  • Mercenary and Convergence players can use it by either:
    • putting it under the control of Asphyxious4 in various themes,
    • putting it under the control of Mortenebra in Strange Bedfellows.

Thoughts on the Desecrator

Desecrator in a nutshell

While the Harrower focuses on melee and Leviathan focuses on shooting, the Desecrator is a bit more flexible.

The Plague Bringer is a solid weapon that closes down charge lanes for infantry, making its ranged weapon the best choice for dealing with single-wound infantry. The Vivisector is a strong weapon, matching the P+S of the Leviathan's Crushing Claw. Critical: Shred allows for the possibility of multiple attacks without spending focus. While the chance of scoring multiple critical hits in a row are slim, most targets won't stand up to three or more attacks with this weapon, especially when combined with the large arsenal of Cryxian debuffs available. A good way to really boost the effectiveness of this model is to add a Warwitch Siren for essentially two free focus when the Desecrator is near Banes. Using that alone, it can charge and buy an extra attack with the Vivisector (assuming Critical: Shred doesn't trigger off the first attack).

To sum up the Desecrator, it is very capable of handling both infantry and warjacks/warbeasts. It only suffers from having average MAT and RAT, but those can easily be boosted by most Cryxian warcasters. If you are unsure of what will be in your opponent's army or you need a tournament list, then a Desecrator is a very suitable helljack.

Combos & Synergies

• Banes
  • They help the Desecrator by giving it a free focus. Special mention to the Bane warcaster, Agathia.
    • Goreshade1 can also summon Bane models via his feat.
  • The Desecrator help Banes by dealing with high DEF infantry, which Banes can struggle with. Whether its flat-out killing them, or closing down areas of the board so the Banes can't be charged.
  • Bane Warriors can improve the Desecrator in melee with Dark Shroud for a +2 damage swing.
• Agathia lets you bring Bane Knights into any theme, so in Scourge you can benefit from Gang Fighter and Accumulator both. Parasite, Ghost Walk, Hellwrough and Death Shroud are also all abilities the Desecrator loves.
• Karchev2 & Deathjack2 - He likes them quite a lot. Full Throttle for boosted attack rolls mean the Critical Shreds are more likely to go off, the feat provides some much needed threat extension and combos well with their native Pathfinder and Locked horns makes them ARM 20 in melee, which is quite durable for a Cryx jack.
• Warwitch Siren can Empower it. Between her, Banes, and Power Up you get a full focus load without draining your caster at all.
• Withershadow Combine can Puppet Master it, to help you get the critical Shred.
• Sturgis2 likes one (or two) to lay down Scathers in front of the enemy army, before he pulls them into the Scather with his feat.
• Venethrax has incredible synergy with the Desecrator. Terminal Velocity increases the poor range of the 'jack as well as vastly increasing the probability of critical Shred vs living targets.
• Skarre1 has Dark Guidance, granting an additional die on melee attack rolls increasing the probability of critical shred within her control range.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Shred is unreliable.
• As with all crabjack chassis, it's a bit slow.
• It can't damage heavy targets that well at range and can't handle swarms of infantry in melee. So it needs to be used on the right targets at the right time.

Tricks & Tips

• Don't feel obligated to run them with Banes 100% of the time. They are perfectly serviceable jack in Scourge of the Broken Coast or Black Industries, too.
• Void Field only applies to the hazard, not to the ranged attack. If the AOE hits/scatters onto Undead models, they will get hurt by it.
• Activate it near the start of your turn, before running your troops forwards into combat. That lets you see where the Scathers land and if they deviate badly you simply run around them. As opposed to running your army forward then shooting and having a bad scatter land on their heads.
• Set up "targeting beacons" by shooting your own models in the back, thereby placing hazards exactly where you want them to block your enemy's movement.
  • Use cheap, easily hit models (like Mechanithralls), Incorporeal or Corrosion-Immune models (like Blackbanes).
• Shoot at units engaged with Satyxis Raiders under the effects of Force Barrier - the Raiders will be immune to the blast but the enemies they're engaging aren't!

Other

Trivia

• Originally released in Warmachine: Wrath (2011).
• The Desecrator was released when the Crabjack kit was upgraded from metal to plastic.

Other Cryx models

Cryx Index       (Edit)
Battlegroup & Similar
Warcasters	Agathia - Aiakos2 - Asphyxious1 - Asphyxious2 - Asphyxious3 - Coven - Deathjack2 - Deneghra1 - Deneghra2 - Deneghra3 - Goreshade1 - Goreshade2 - Goreshade3 - Mortenebra1 - Mortenebra2 - Rahera - Scaverous - Skarre1 - Skarre2 - Skarre3 - Sturgis2 - Terminus - Venethrax
Warcaster attachments	The Withershadow Combine - Satyxis Blood Priestess - Skarlock Thrall - Doctor Stygius (Partisan) - Madelyn Corbeau (Mercenary)
Other Warjack Controllers	Jack Marshals: Iron Lich Overseer       "Junior Warcasters": Aiakos1 - Asphyxious4 - Deneghra0
Light	Cankerworm - Deathripper - Defiler - Helldiver - Nightwretch - Ripjaw - Scavenger - Shrike - Stalker
Heavy	Barathrum - Corruptor - Deathjack1 - Desecrator - Erebus - Harrower - Kharybdis - Inflictor - Leviathan - Malice - Nightmare - Reaper - Seether - Slayer
Colossal	Kraken - Sepulcher
Units, Solos, Battle Engines, & Structures
Units	Asphyxious4 - Bane Knights - Bane Riders - Bane Warriors - Bile Thralls - BO Boarding Party - BO Ironmongers - BO Smog Belchers - Blackbane's Ghost Raiders - Bloodgorgers - Marauders - Carrion Thralls - Cephalyx Drudges - Cephalyx Overlords - Mechanithralls - Necrosurgeon - Revenant Cannon - Revenant Crew - Satyxis Gunslingers - Satyxis Blood Witches - Satyxis Raiders - Scharde Dirge Seers - Scharde Pirates - Soulhunters - The Devil's Shadow Mutineers - The Withershadow Combine
Solos	Aiakos1 - Agrimony - Axiara - Bane Lord Tartarus - Bloat Thrall - BTO Mobius - Captain Rengrave - Darragh Wrathe - Doctor Stygius - Deneghra0 - Gerlak - Hellslinger - Iron Lich Overseer - Machine Wraith - Master Gurglepox - Misery Cage - Necrotech - Ol' Grim - Pistol Wraith - Satyxis Blood Priestess - Satyxis Raider Captain - Scrap Thrall - Skarlock Thrall - Severa Blacktide - Soul Trapper - Warwitch Siren
Battle Engines & Structures	Wraith Engine
Theme Forces
Black Industries - Dark Host - The Ghost Fleet - Scourge of the Broken Coast
Mercenaries
Refer to Who Works for Whom and/or Category: Cryx Mercenary
This index was last updated: 2021.11

Rules Clarifications

Rules Clarification : Critical Shred      (Edit) Shred only triggers during your Combat Action, so not on free strikes, countercharges, etc.

Rules Clarification : Grievous Wounds      (Edit) GW prevents "repairs" as well as "heals". It does not stop a warlock transferring damage, or stop the wounded model from being able to 'heal' someone else. Does not affect models with the Massive rule.

Rules Clarification : Void Field      (Edit) The AOE that remains in play is not a cloud effect. Void Field only applies to the hazard, not the original ranged attack. If the attack hits/scatters on to some Undead models, it will damage them. Templates that do damage (Edit)   [Show/Hide] Most templates that do damage to models that walk into them are defined as "Hazards" (such as Burning Ground) but there are a few that aren't Hazards (such as Creeping Barrage and Wall of Fire). The differences are: A hazard is a terrain element Damage from a hazard template is never considered to be from the model or weapon/spell that put it into play. So hazards never gain special rules of the weapon/spell (such as a Damage Type or Poison), nor does it gain special rules of the model (such as Hand of Fate). Damage from a non-hazard template is considered to be from the model that put it in play. So non-hazards do get stuff like Hand of Fate. (Infernal Ruling) Damage from a hazard is not from an attack (so won't trigger stuff like Vengeance) Damage from a non-hazard is also not from an attack. Instead it will be a Special Action (Covering Fire), or a "instead of making an attack, place a template" (Creeping Barrage), or etc.   Damage templates from spells is complicated: (Infernal Ruling) Spells that leave templates that are not hazards (such as Razor Wall) do Damage Type: Magical. Spells that leave templates that are hazards (such as Breath of Corruption) follow the rules for hazards, which are most likely not magical damage but it varies by the hazard. The initial damage when you place the template, if any, is Damage Type: Magical. For example, Breath of Corruption's initial POW 12 corrosion damage roll is Damage Type: Magical in addition to Damage Type: Corrosion. But the hazard that is put into play from Breath of Corruption is not Damage Type: Magical, just Damage Type: Corrosion.   By default, when you put a template into play it doesn't do damage to models they overlap. The exceptions are templates that are created by an AOE weapon, and templates that explicitly say they do damage when they're placed. A model which is "placed" also counts as "entering" an area, so the template will damage any one who teleports/spawns into it, too. If two templates are overlapping, a model that enters them will take two points of damage.

Rules Clarification : Corrosion      (Edit) If you deploy in corrosion hazard terrain (Acid Pool), then you get corroded before the game starts. Deploying a model in a hazard counts as being "put into play" in the hazard. Being put into play counts as "entering". When you enter a hazard, you trigger the hazard. A weapon can inflict continuous corrosion without itself being a corrosion damage weapon (for example, the Acidic Touch animus). In this case, the attack can hurt models with Immunity: Corrosion it just won't apply the continuous effect.

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 : Steady      (Edit) If you are hit by a knockdown effect during your own turn then ... nothing happens. Unless it was a Slam or a Throw that knocked you down. In that situation, there is a core rule that says "models immune to knockdown that become knocked down from a slam or throw must forfeit either movement or action when they activate". But that core rule doesn't apply to other knockdowns (lots of players assume it does) Steady models are still susceptible to other effects of knock-down attacks (if there are any). For instance, a Head Butt attack causes damage and knockdown - a Steady model would still take the damage. A knocked down model that gains Steady will remain knocked down, because the "cannot be knocked down" is not retroactively applied. Steady models who make a tough check during an advance can continue advancing. (Locked Thread)

Rules Clarification : Accumulator      (Edit) If you have the Accumulator rule twice (for instance a Stormclad in the Hearts of Darkness theme) then you only get to apply it once, and get 1 focus. (Infernal Ruling) Accumulator does not allow you to go over the normal focus limit (3 for most warjacks). Refer to the Cortex rules. Warjacks which are Jack Marshaled can gain focus via Accumulator, whether or not the marshal is still alive.

Rules Clarification : Amphibious - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Pathfinder      (Edit) Pathfinder (Edit) - Pathfinder does not apply to involuntary movement (pushes & slams). (Infernal Ruling)