Dhunian Archon

99% of this website is about Mark 3 (mk3), which is the previous edition of the game (2016 to 2022). The reasons for this are explained here. 1% of the website is about Mark 4 (mk4), but only in regards to which mk3 models are useable in mk4 Prime and which are mk4 Unlimited. See Legacy Armies for more detail.

Dhunian Archon Minion, & Trollblood Partisan, Solo

Mixed How usable this model is in Mk IV depends on the Faction: Trollblood: This model can be used by this Faction, but only the Unlimited format. Mercenary: Its card indicates that it should be in Unlimited Mercenaries, but it is glitched (as of 2023.03) and doesn't appear. You can view the 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.

Dhunia is the goddess of life itself, of Caen, of the seasons, and of the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. The boons Dhunia has bestowed upon her chosen peoples are many, but she rarely interacts directly with mortals. That her archons are now manifesting more often is confirmation of the dire peril facing Caen. They bring with them the god-mother’s wrath. The manipulation and theft of souls is particularly loathed by these archons, and they ruthlessly punish those guilty of such actions, drawing on the power of nature itself.

Basic Info

Dhunian Archon
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Medium SPD 5 STR 7 MAT 7 RAT N/A M.A. N/A DEF 13 ARM 17 CMD 10 ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS N/A FURY N/A THRS N/A HP 10 F. Field N/A WJP {{{wjp}}} WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} FA 2 UNIT SIZE N/A COST 6 N/A N/A N/A Warcaster 1 COST N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

Minion - Dhunian Archons will work for Circle, or Trollbloods.

Partisan [ Trollblood ] - When included in a Trollblood army, this model/unit is a Trollblood model/unit instead of a Minion model/unit.

Abilities

• Pathfinder
• Tough
• Divine Manifestation - This model is not a living model, cannot become knocked down, and never suffers Blind. Opponents cannot take control of this model.
• Mother's Embrace - When a friendly model is destroyed by an enemy attack while in this model's command range, after the attack is resolved remove d3 damage points from a friendly model.
• Righteous Fury - When one or more friendly Faction warrior models are destroyed by an enemy attack while in this model's command range, this model gains +2 STR & ARM for one round.
• Shepherd's Call (★ Action) - Remove up to 1 fury point from each friendly living Faction warbeast currently within 3" of this model.
• Soul Ward - Enemy models cannot gain soul tokens from friendly models destroyed within 5" of this model.
• Threads of Life - Once per turn when a friendly non-warlock living warrior model in this model's command range is hit by an enemy attack, this model can suffer d3 damage points. The friendly model does not suffer a damage roll from the attack.

Weapons

Old Oak
		RNG				POW				P+S
		2				5				12
Damage Type: Magical Dispel - When this weapon hits a model/unit, upkeep spells and animi on that model/unit immediately expire.

Theme Forces

• Minions
  • The Thornfall Alliance
  • Vengeance of Dhunia
  • Will Work for Food

• Trollbloods
  • As a Minion model she can go in every Trollblood theme, however she'll use up your "up to one Minion solo" slot most of the time.
  • Band of Heroes
  • Kriel Company
  • Power of Dhunia. Does not use up your Minion slot in this theme.
  • Storm of the North
  • Vengeance of Dhunia. No limit on Minion slots in this theme.

• Circle
  • The Bones of Orboros
  • The Devourer's Host
  • Secret Masters. No limit on Minion slots in this theme.
  • The Wild Hunt

Thoughts on the Dhunian Archon

Dhunian Archon in a nutshell

The Dhunian Archon is a support piece which plays equally well with warbeasts & infantry, but she is best with some easy-to-kill chaff to trigger her healing ability, which she can the use to heal multi wound infantry or warbeasts. She extends the already frustratingly difficult to deal with Tough troops found in Trolls & Circle by keeping the last few alive as those around them die. She supports warbeasts with an extremely useful piece of pin-point fury management, an ability especially relevant for Trolls & Minions. On top of all this, she is an Archon and denies enemy soul collection and is remarkably difficult to scalpel out. Overall a really solid support piece which will feature in a lot of Troll & Minion lists, and might show its head in the support-rich Circle.

Combos & Synergies

• Minions
  • The Dhunian Archon is Thornfall's fury management. Most Minion lists want to run lots of beasts, and historically have been restrained due to poor ability to manage all the fury this creates. The Dhunian Archon solves this problem.
  • She also happens to love being stationed behind a big blob of disposable troops, a signature model class of Farrow.
• Gatorman Bokor & Bog Trog Shamblers - Models dying to activate her heal ability can be turned into corpes for the Gator, who can then generate fresh bodies for scenario and attrition. Dying Shamblers in turn can also trigger Mother's Embrace again. Waste not Want not.
• Malvin & Mayhem - She can heal these guys with Mother's Embrace for some reason. In Vengeance of Dhunia this gets even sillier due to the presence of the Krielstone as an ablative ARM buff to both her and M&M.

• Trollbloods
  • Threads of Life & Mother's Embrace are especially relevant with Trollkin Champions, who can naturally spread damage through their unit. The Dhunian Archon lets you heal up the back line of Champions to whom you've spread damage, enabling the two waves strategy the Champions encourage.
  • Trollkin Fennblades are a superlative chaff unit as sacrificial Mother's Embrace triggers.
• She also works very well with a swat of Runeshapers in the Power of Dhunia theme, where you can also bring two of her, as they are tough, steady, multi wound infantry she can heal.
• In Storm of the North she becomes a Northkin, gains Immunity Cold and thus casters can upkeep on her for free. Additionally she can gain all ther benefits from the Kriel Stone with a Northkin Elder.
• Madrak2 - Blood Fury and the Cold Stone make her a P+S 14 weapon master. Grim Salvation can be used to trigger Righteous Fury for P+S 16 and ARM 21 under the stone aura. Berserk and Overtake can be hilarious, too.

• Circle Orboros
  • The Dhunian Archon cannot interact with Circle Warbeasts' fury, however Threads of Life is brutally efficient on Tharn Ravagers, Brighid and Caul, and (occasionally) Wolf Riders or Lord of the Feast if the Dhunian Archon is in range of them. Additionally, Dispel on the melee weapon can be extremely useful for the often poor upkeep removal that Devourers Host brings, allowing the solo summoned in through the Well of Orboros to be something other than a Bloodweaver Night Witch. This is a highly useful model in Devourer's Host, and a sometimes useful model in Secret Masters due to being able to keep powerful minion solos alive. As of March, 2021, this inclusion in Secret Masters is less likely as Death Archons are likely to become the dominant way to build that list, and due to animosity [other Archons], Dhunian's cannot coexist with the incarnation of the reaper.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• She is a 6 pt model which will not meaningfully do any damage herself. Beware of support bloat, especially in Trollbloods.
• She's Partisan: Trollblood, but only called out in the Power of Dhunia and Vengeance of Dhunia themes. This means that you can't include more than one in In Storm of the North or Band of Heros where you can field her favourite infantry Trollkin Champions.
• Anything which shuts down Tough & Healing, especially en masse, (Mortality, Entropic Aura, Grievous Wounds) makes Dhunia sad..
  • On the other hand, Mother's Embrace can heal anything, anywhere on the board with no LOS or CMD requirements, and your enemy likely wont be able to cover your whole entire army with anti-healing, meaning you'll always have something to heal.
• Spd 5 & Pathfinder is decent, but not enough to keep up with the faster warbeasts in Farrow & Circle. Be aware of the 3" Shepherd's Call bubble when moving your beasts

Tricks & Tips

• In order to trigger Mother's Embrace a friendly warrior model must die within 10" of her, but the healing can go to any of your models on your table, including constructs or the undead.
• Theards of Life is turn only, not round only, so you can negate a free strike on your turn, and then still negate a damage roll during the opponents.
• Divine Manifestation makes it difficult for your opponent to get past the Archon. She can block for your caster pretty reliably in a pinch.
• Mother's Embrace triggers off "any friendly model", including Constructs & warbeasts, and with a 10" bubble you should be able to cover most if not all of your army.
  • Threads of Life only triggers off "friendly living warriors". Don't get the two confused and try to prevent an attack on a warbeast! Also with Divine Manifestation she can’t target herself.
• Two Dhunian Archons can cover the entire playspace with Soul Ward & Mother's Embrace. If you are looking for anti-Infernal tech for Trolls or Minions, run two.
• The Archon's attack is weak enough that it is unlikely to hurt high-ARM allies. As such, the Dispel can be used on your own dudes regularly. And if you accidentally do deal damage, heal it back with Mother's Embrace on your opponent's turn!
  • Note that you can't prevent damage from your own attacks with Threads of Life

Other

Trivia

Dhunian Tree Spirit; Minicrate Exclusive.

• Released 2019.11
• This model has a limited edition sculpt, released in 2022.05.

Other Faction models

Trollbloods Index       (Edit)
Battlegroup & Similar
Warlocks	Borka1 - Borka2 - Calandra - Gunnbjorn1 - Gunnbjorn2 - Grim1 - Grim2 - Grissel1 - Grissel2 - Doomshaper1 - Doomshaper2 - Doomshaper3 - Horgle2 - Jarl - Kolgrima - Madrak1 - Madrak2 - Madrak3 - Ragnor
Warlock Attachment	Trollkin Runebearer	Lesser Warlocks	Horgle1 - Madrak0
Light warbeasts	Ice Troll - Night Troll - Pyre Troll - Slag Troll - Storm Troll - Swamp Troll - Troll Axer - Troll Basher - Troll Bouncer - Troll Impaler - Winter Troll
Heavy warbeasts	Dire Troll Blitzer - Dire Troll Bomber - Dire Troll Brawler - Dire Troll Mauler - Dozer & Smigg - Earthborn Dire Troll - Mulg the Ancient - Rök
Gargantuan	Glacier King - Mountain King - Sea King
Units, Solos, & Battle Engines
Units	Dannon Blythe & Bull - Boomhowler1 - Dhunian Knot - Kriel Warriors - Stone Bearer - NK Bears - NK Fire Eaters - NK Raiders - Pummeler Crew - Pyg Burrowers - Pyg Bushwhackers - Pyg Lookouts - Sons of Bragg - Scattergunners - Thumper Crew - T Champions - T Fennblades - T Highwaymen - T Long Riders - T Runeshapers - T Scouts - T Sluggers - Warders Special WA: Trollkin Sorcerer
Solos	Boomhowler2 - Boomhowler3 - Braylen Wanderheart, Trollkin Outlaw - Bumbles - Dhunian Archon - Fell Caller Hero - Fennblade Kithkar - General 'Thunderstone' Brug - Horgle1 - Horthol, Long Rider Hero - Janissa Stonetide - Ledfoot & Tredz - Madrak0 - Northkin Shaman - Pyg Tank - Stone Scribe Chronicler - Troll Whelps - Trollkin Champion Hero - Trollkin Skinner Valka Curseborn, Chieftain of the North
Battle Engines	Hearthgut Hooch Hauler - War Wagon
Theme Forces
Band of Heroes - Kriel Company - Power of Dhunia - Storm of the North - Vengeance of Dhunia
Minions that work for the Trollblooods
Refer to Who Works for Whom and/or Category: Trollblood Minion
This index was last updated: 2021.10

Rules Clarifications

Rules Clarification:  : Partisan      (Edit) (Click Expand to read)

Which Faction am I? Partisans are Mercenary (or Minion) models unless they're taken in their "Home" Faction. For example, a Mercenary model that is Partisan [Cygnar]: When used in most armies it is "friendly Faction" only to other Mercenary models. When used in a Cygnar army it is "friendly Faction" to Cygnar models ... and stops being "friendly Faction" to any other Mercenaries in that Cygnar army. In a multi-caster game, Partisans count as the main army's Faction and not as a Mercenary models (if playing a Faction other than Mercaneries). (Infernal Ruling) Attachments If a Partisan unit can get a special attachment from their Partisan Faction (for instance a Soulless Escort or Trollkin Sorcerer) then they can only get that attachment when they're in the Partisan Faction. They can't take it when working as a regular Mercenary. (Locked thread) When taken in their Partisan Faction, they can't have a Ranking Officer attached. Partisan warcasters If you have a Partisan caster, you must choose whether your army is a Mercenary force or a [Partisan Faction] force. What warjacks the caster can take are then limited by your choice. Partisan casters can be taken in [Partisan Faction] theme forces. Refer to the main rulebook. Partisan casters can be fielded in multiple-caster games. (Locked thread) See also the Category: Partisan for what happens if you mix and match Partisan casters and Merc casters in multi-caster games. Partisans & Theme Forces (Edit) Partisans are Mercenary/Minion models, so there are two ways you can add them to a theme force: Freely: If the Partisan is on the list of allowed models, then you can take as many as you want plus another Mercenary unit/solo. (Infernal Ruling) They can be explicitly allowed (for example Jaws of the Wolf allows "Kayazy models/units" so Partisan Kayayz can be used freely). They can be implicitly allowed (for example Scourge of the Broken Coast allows "living Cryx models/units" and Partisan Cephalyx fit that criteria, so they can be used freely). (Infernal Ruling) Limited: If the Partisan isn't on the list of allowed models, it does use up your "Up to one Mercenary/Minion" slot, so you can only have the one. Whether you used option 1 or 2 above, once they're in your theme force they count as a Faction model and so: They can be taken as a Requistion Option (if they fit the Requistion description). For example Lanyssa can be taken as a free solo in the Legion of Dawn theme. (Infernal Ruling) They will get any theme benefit that they fit the description for. For example Storm Division gives all Cygnar models Immunity Electricity, so Partisan Mercs in that theme get immunity too. For example Nemo4's Mechaniks get Reposition [3] in Heavy Metal. (Infernal Ruling)

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

Rules Clarification : Tough - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Divine Manifestation      (Edit) Archons are not living models, but neither are they constructs, undead, etc. They're just ... archons.

Rules Clarification : Mother's Embrace      (Edit) There is no range limit on who the damage is removed from. If a model is destroyed in the command range of two Dhunian Archons, both Archons get to trigger this ability and you can heal 2 models (or 1 model twice). This is not a case of "same named effects can't stack". (Locked Thread)

Rules Clarification : Righteous Fury - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Shepherd's Call - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Soul Ward      (Edit) Soul Ward overrides "collects the soul regardless of proximity" abilities (such as Dark Fire). The model being destroyed has to be in your CMD range. The location of the enemy model itself is irrelevant - they could stand inside your CMD range, and destroy something outside your CMD range, and not be affected.

Rules Clarification : Threads of Life      (Edit) Threads cannot be used vs "non-attack" stuff (like Electro-Leap). Threads can be used on models clipped by an AOE attack. Threads will block special abilities that deal a fixed amount of damage instead of a damage roll (such as Deadly Shot, Needle, Sniper, etc), because those abilities are resolved at the same time as a damage roll normally would be. (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification:  : Magical Damage      (Edit) (Click Expand to read)

* The "Damage Type: Magical" is not inherited by "secondary" damage from a weapon. That is, stuff like arcs (Electro Leap) or hazards (Scather). (Infernal Ruling) All spells have "Damage Type: Magical" (refer errata). This is inherited by "immediate" secondary damage (such as Eruption of Spines). (Infernal Ruling) and might be inherited by "lingering" secondary damage (see below). If a spell leaves a template in play that does damage to models that walk around in it, then: if it is not described as a hazard it will do magical damage to models that walk around in it. (Example: Razor Wall) if it is a hazard then it will not do magical damage to models that walk around in it. Instead, it does whatever damage type is specified by the spell description. (Example: Breath of Corruption). (Infernal Ruling) If a weapon/spell includes Magic Damage and another kind of elemental damage it will still damage Incorporeal models. Incorporeal models are not affected by the rule "if an attack does multiple types of damage and a model is immune to at least one it is immune to the entire attack." The phrase "immune to non-magical damage" should be interpreted as "immune to damage that doesn't include Damage Type: Magical" (not interpreted as "has immunity to Corrosion and Electricity and Cold and etc.")

Rules Clarification : Dispel      (Edit) Dispel can't be used versus upkeeps that are not "on" a model/unit (such as Rock Wall, Void Gate, etc), because you can't "hit" them. Because Dispel causes spells to expire on a hit, it will prevent spells that trigger on a hit from triggering at all. For instance, the defensive animus Spiny Growth causes any model that hits the target to suffer d3 damage. This damage will not occur if it's hit by a Dispel weapon. Anti-Upkeep vs a unit (Edit) If an upkeep is on a unit, then all you need to do is make it expire off any member of the unit and the spell will expire from the entire unit. It doesn't matter if the target is in formation or not. (Locked thread) However, if an upkeep is on a single model within a unit (such as Scything Touch) then you need to dispel it off that particular model to make it dispel. (Infernal Ruling)