Lord Exhumator Scaverous

Lord Exhumator Scaverous Cryx Warcaster

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.

Scaverous has served the Nightmare Empire for many centuries. His mortal life as a historian and arcanist who dabbled in the black arts was but a harbinger of the work that has consumed him since. Bestowed the gift of undeath for his obsession with and skillful pursuit of knowledge, Scaverous was immediately put to work, first in the Archive of Skell and later abroad to gather intelligence. He spent decades specializing in those exacting necromantic arts required to unbind the tongues of the dead, to manifest their shades from echos left on their bones and force from them answers to his questions.

Basic Info

Scaverous1
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Medium SPD 6 STR 8 MAT 6 RAT N/A M.A. N/A DEF 14 ARM 17 CMD N/A ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS 7 FURY N/A THRS N/A HP 18 F. Field N/A WJP +27 WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} FA N/A UNIT SIZE N/A COST N/A N/A N/A N/A Warcaster 1 COST N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

Warcaster - All warcasters come with a stack of standard special rules - most notably being awesome. Click here for a newbie-friendly recap, or click here for the full rules.

Feat: Black Gate

1. While in Scaverous' control range, friendly Faction models gain boosted magic attack rolls.
2. When Scaverous casts a spell, reduce the COST of the spell by 1.
3. When an enemy model casts a spell while within Scaverous' control range, increase the COST by 1.

Black Gate lasts for one round.

Tip ! The first effect doesn't affect weapons with Damage Type: Magical. See LPG - Magic vs Magical for why. The third effect: doesn't affect models that cast a spell via a Magic Ability, since those have no cost. doesn't affect models that "cast a spell that is COST 3 or less for free" because the feat doesn't change the base cost. does, however, affect warbeast's animus.

Abilities

• Undead
• Knowledge of the Damned - When a model in this model's control range makes an attack or damage roll, this model can spend a soul token to make that model reroll the dice roll. Each roll can only be rerolled once as a result of Knowledge of the Damned.
• Soul Taker: Cull Soul - This model can gain soul tokens. When a living enemy model is destroyed within 2" of this model, this model gains the destroyed model's soul token. After this model replenishes its focus during your next Control Phase, replace each soul token with 1 focus point.

Weapons

• Avernus - 2" reach, POW 6, P+S 14 melee weapon.
  • Damage Type: Magical
  • Thresher (★ Attack) - This model makes one melee attack with this weapon against each model in its LOS that is in this weapon's melee range. Thresher attacks are simultaneous.

Spells

	COST	RNG	AOE	POW	DUR	OFF
Death Ward	2	6	-	-	Upkeep	No
Target friendly Faction model/unit gains +2 ARM. If an affected warjack is damaged, choose which column suffers the damage. Models are not affected while out of formation.
Excarnate	3	10	-	13	-	Yes
When a living enemy warrior model is boxed by Excarnate, RFP it. You can then add to play one Grunt to a friendly Faction small-based undead unit in the spellcaster's control range. Place the Grunt in formation and completely within 3" of the spellcaster. The Grunt must forfeit its Combat Action the turn it is put into play.
Feast of Worms	4	10	4	12	Upkeep	Yes
(1) While in the AOE, enemy models suffer -2 ARM. (2) When a living enemy model is destroyed in the AOE, the spellcaster gains the destroyed model's soul token regardless of the proximity of other models. (3) The AOE remains in play as long as the upkeep is paid.
Icy Grip	2	8	-	-	Upkeep	Yes
Target warrior model/unit without Immunity: Cold suffers -2 DEF and cannot run or make special attacks.
Soul Harvester	2	6	-	-	Upkeep	No
When target friendly Faction model/unit destroys a living enemy model with a melee attack, the spellcaster gains the destroyed model’s soul token regardless of the proximity of other models.
Telekinesis	2	8	-	-	-	(★)
Place target model completely within 2" of its current location. When Telekinesis targets an enemy model, it is an offensive spell and requires an attack roll. A model can be placed by Telekinesis only once per turn.

Theme Forces

• Black Industries
• Dark Host
• The Ghost Fleet
• Scourge of the Broken Coast

Thoughts on Scaverous

Scaverous in a nutshell

Scaverous is a spellslinger caster with a strong soul collection mechanic. He enables his army to do their job better. He can debuff ARM through Feast of Worms, has control elements from Icy Grip, but his main shtick is Telekinesis and Soul Harvester. On feat turn he can put out at least 7 telekinesis, all of them with boosted attack rolls. If you got souls on the turn before, you can spam even more.

His model does look like a melee powerhouse, his DEF/ARM is okay, and Thresher on his 2" weapon is good - but despite all this, he doesn't want to get in melee. He'll be spending nearly all his focus stack every turn, leaving him reasonably vulnerable to assassination.

Feat thoughts

In an ideal world you'd use his feat the turn after you've gorged on souls, so that you have plenty of focus to sling spells around. But this would mean that you wouldn't use your feat until Turn 3 (given that you're unlikely to gorge on souls on turn 1) and often Turn 3 can be too late.

Instead, Scav often prefers to use his feat on Turn 2, just as the lines engage, to spam Telekinesis, to land a much-needed debuff, or Excarnate some Grunts into play. This can help him get the alpha strike and start the attrition war in his favour.

Last thought: it can be tempting to fill your army up with spellcasters to maximise on the feat, but just be careful you don't overload on fragile mages and leave yourself too few points to spend on "boots on the ground" combat troops.

Spell thoughts

• Death Ward is best on a high-value warjack who doesn't want Scav's Soul Harvester upkeep, to keep that warjack alive longer.
  • Erebus is a good choice, as are colossals.
  • Any jack with ARM 18 or higher, as stacking an ARM buff on an already-high ARM is just good sense.
  • Alternatively, you could put it on a unit of high-ARM infantry. Bane Riders and Bane Knights with Death Ward are ARM20 (when B2B for Knights) and ARM22 against shooting and magic with a Wraith Engine. Combine with Darragh Wrathe for even more ARM skew.
• Feast of Worms is an expensive spell, but well worth it.
  • It can be used for pure offense (vs clumped-up troops like Durst or Trollbloods), for extra soul-collecting, and sort-of as a board control element. If some high-ARM enemy are out of range, you can land the AOE in front of them and say "come towards me, and you'll be dust next turn."
  • It can circumvent some forms of anti-magic tech that prevent targeting; you can run a Machine Wraith or TK an enemy model over, target them, and clip the warded model you want to debuff.
  • It has slight skornergy because if you're throwing it at easily-killed models to gobble their souls, then the ARM debuff is likely overkill; and vice versa.
• You're generally putting Icy Grip out for the DEF debuff and let your army hit more reliably. Other applications include:
  • Put it on a slow warcaster/solo/unit early in the game, to keep it out of the fight. Telekinesis it backwards to add insult to injury.
  • Put it on a unit of spellcasters (like Hex Hunters) that rely on using a Special Attack to cast a spell. Without that, they can't act in combat at all.
• Soul Harvester is your main source of soul-income. It is best going on a unit that can a) quickly close the gap with the enemy, and b) can reliably kill infantry, preferably in droves.
  • Soul Hunters or Bane Riders are a good choice, thanks to their SPD and number of attacks.
  • I've heard people suggest Bloodgorgers with Gerlak, because Berserk + Overtake lets them "Pacman" through enemy units, but I think they're a bit slow to be ideal. On the other hand, you only need 1 or 2 to make it to the enemy to start a Pacman, and Telekinesis on 1 or 2 guys isn't hard.
  • The Harrower can be decent thanks to its 2" Thresher ability.

• Telekinesis is possibly the strongest spell in the game. Here are some general tips applicable to any caster: (Edit)
  • Battle Engines can be placed (unlike other huge-based models).
  • Enemy model out of your charge range? Move your own model 2" forward. Still too far away? Move the enemy 2" closer. That's a 4" threat range extender!
  • Move enemy models 2" straight backwards, so they don't have range to charge/attack you next turn. While you're at it, spin them around so they can't declare charges and so you get the back strike bonus.
  • Move models out of your charge lanes, or to open up LOS.
  • Move enemy models out of scenario zones.
  • Is there an enemy 'jack or 'beast right at the edge of control range? TK them away from their controller so they can't Power Up or manage Fury next turn. Turn them around so they might occasionally frenzy into the enemy lines.
  • Is there an enemy unit with most of the troopers right at the edge of formation range? TK the commander away from his troops so they're out of formation.
  • Do enemy models get a bonus for being B2B? You can stop that.
  • TK your own caster forwards or backwards to be more threatening or more cowardly.
  • TK enemy models into range of your passive debuffs (such as Dark Shroud), then gang up on them.
  • TK enemy models into hazards to force them to take damage.
  • Move friendly models out of melee before they activate, to avoid free strikes.
  • Run an arc node up, cast your spell, then TK the node itself backwards to keep it safer for next turn.
  • Or run an arc node up, cast TK on the node itself to move it forwards, to gain +2" range on your follow-up spell.
    This is especially useful if advancing the node those last 2" would trigger something nasty like Garryth2's feat.
  • Feast of Worms is a great debuff to move enemys into.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• As a spellslinger with 4 upkeeps, Scaverous doesn't play well with anti-spell stuff, particularly anti-upkeep stuff.
• Despite being modeled as a badass robot dude with a huge scythe, he almost never wants to get into combat.
• With only MAT 6 it's best you forget about Thresher. Although with Icy Grip he can push himself to effective MAT 8 vs warrior models, which are his preferred Thresher targets.

Tricks & Tips

• Don't forget that Feast of Worms' ARM debuff applies before the damage roll. So you'll be doing:
  • Effective POW 14 vs the model directly hit
  • Effective POW 8 blast damage vs enemy models hit
  • Actual POW 6 blast damage vs friendly models hit
• Using Star-Crossed from Wrong Eye with rerolls from Scaverous can be a very potent combination.
• The "Spanish Inquistion" tactic

Warning: This is a high-cost, low-reward venture. You want to avoid using it, if possible.

But sometimes you're forced to be the 2nd player, your opponent advances very aggressively, just outside of your threat range. Furthermore, they're poised to feat on their turn 2 to lock you out of the scenario and/or prevent you making any meaningful attacks.

Net result: you've got nothing to attack on your turn 1, and very little to attack on turn 2. You can try and play defensively for 2 turns and hope enough of your army survives to give you a meaningful turn 3, or you can try something nobody expects.

1. Feat at the start of your turn 1 and only cast Telekinesis, and cast it as many times as possible - Deathjack, WSC, Doctor Stygius, Misery Cage, and/or Blood Priestess can all help here.
2. Use this to launch your army straight into those aggressively-positioned models, that weren't expecting all your threat ranges to grow by 2" (or 4" if you TK the enemy too) on turn 1.
3. Hope like hell that this surprise turn 1 attack upsets your opponent's plans sufficiently for you to stay in the game.

List Building Advice

Strategy

Scaverous’s toolkit can do almost anything. He can be built in so many different ways, all of them are solid, and he has a flexible toolbox that allows him to adapt to the flow of the game. Have an idea of what you need/want Scaverous to actually play into and build with that in mind. Or to put it another way, as a caster Scaverous can pair well with anyone but any given Scaverous list cannot pair well with anyone. You often want to decide on your non-Scaverous list, learn what that list is weak into, and design Scaverous to cover that weakness.

His flexibility can leave new players floundering with "Analysis Paralysis" where they spend so long thinking about what he could do with his focus this turn, they lose sight of the overall game and let the win slip through their fingers. To alleviate this, I suggest you choose one of the following strategies, build your list to capitalise on it, then play that list to death before picking another strategy.

1. Telekinesis-enabled assassination
   • Figure out if any of your models can charge the enemy caster (ignore everything between them). Don't forget to add 3" to your threat range. Now that you've checked that, start spamming TK to move anything blocking your charge lane out of the way, then charge and go to town.
   • With this strategy, you'll probably want to have 2-3 fast, hard-hitting assassins in your army list. You spread them out the turn before the assassination, to saturate your opponent with threat vectors and maximise the chance they leave at least one with a "gap" to charge through (or at least a "gap" you can create with a minimum number of TK).
   • Ideally, you won't have to cast TK too often and you'll have enough focus left to cast either an Icy Grip or Feast of Worms on the enemy caster.
2. Telekinesis-enabled attrition
   • In this strategy, you're looking to get the first strike, preferably against your opponent's most high-value targets. They'll try to keep them away from your army, and you'll just TK yourself and/or them closer, so that you get the charge.
   • You should also keep an eye out for important support models (like Choir and the Krielstone) that are trying to hide. Then use TK to bring them forward where you can either shoot them or charge them.
   • This strategy doesn't work very well with and/or against troop-spam lists - there's simply too many guys to cast TK on in any one turn.
   • With this strategy, you'll probably want one or two heavy-hitters that you can TK forwards and then charge the enemy. You also might want a bit of shooting in your list, to kill any screening units that are trying to block you from getting at the high-value targets.
3. Plain attrition
   • Here, you're playing with and/or against a troop-spam army, where there are no obvious high-value targets worth TK-ing. Instead what you're doing is throwing out Icy Grip and/or Feast of Worms to debuff the enemy to the point where your army can kill them, preferably faster than they kill you.

    Built to Pair    

Theme thoughts

As an army enabler, Scaverous does quite well in any theme. However, he does like something that can hit hard (like Dark Host) because his only ARM debuff is an expensive Cost 4 spell.

    Black Industries    

This theme gives him access to most of the stuff he has the best synergies with, so he will spend most of his time here.

• Deathjack
  • DJ can cast Telekenisis, and you can never have enough TKs in your game!
  • One neat trick is to have DJ perform a slam move but TK his slam target before making the slam attack. This lets you line up some interesting slam angles. Note that the target still needs to be in slam range (0.5") after the TK is cast.
  • Note that although DJ can cast Excarnate, he can't spawn a trooper from it (because DJ doesn't have a control range).
  • Death Ward is DJ's favourite buff, stacking with Carapace to make DJ ARM 24 against shooting and making it hard to cripple DJ's systems.
• Mechanithralls are good targets for Scav's Excarnate spell. They can screen or ambush depending on your opponent's setup. The brute thralls hit reasonably hard and are shield guards to boot. Thralls have a low MAT but Icy Grip can help with that.
• Carrion Thralls - A very good flanking unit that make for excellent Soul Harvesters.
• Necrosurgeon - With Excarnate and this girl you can lay on thick the reinforcements.
• Thanks to TK, Scavy can actually make Seethers work somewhat, because he can TK them into position should the enemy find a way for them to not have targets to charge in their front arc.
  • As such an Overseether module can work quite well with him (that is a Seether marshalled by an Iron Lich Overseer for Dark Shround and Crush!).
  • The Seether also gains Carapace in this theme.
• Warwitch Sirens can alleviate his focus burden by Empowering his jacks, and on feat turn their magical sprays become very powerful.
• Cephalyx Overlords have magical sprays that are great on feat turn.
• For warcaster attachment you can choose between Doctor Stygius or the Withershadow Combine (you can ignore the Skarlock Thrall and Corbeau).
  • Either option can cast spells from Scav's card. So that's an extra TK each turn. They both benefit from Scav's feat. As with DJ they can cast Excarnate, but can't spawn a trooper.
  • Dr Stygius is cheaper.
  • WSC are more expensive, but give Scav a free upkeep, a re-roll, and on feat turn they get three boosted attacks instead of 1. Lastly they're a unit which can be good for scenarios.
• Aiakos1 - The main synergy here is Aiakos can stack Escort with a TK from Scav for some truly ludicrous threat ranges.
  • A nice addition is Aiakos's pet warjack Kharybdis. TK plus Escort lets Kharybdis threaten 16" (or 18" if you TK the enemy closer).
• Asphyxious4 is called out specifically in this theme. See the "Mercenary" header as to why you should take him.
• Black Ogrun Iron Mongers - The leader has a handy to-hit buff for Warjacks, but most importantly they repair very well, contest and hit surprisingly hard for support models, especially against enemy Constructs.

    Scourge of the Broken Coast    

A few of Scav's favourite pieces are available here, plus some stuff you can't get in Black Industries. This is arguably his best theme.

• Aiakos1, Warwitch Sirens, Iron Mongers, Overlords, and Stygius are all available here too. Note the Cephalyx do not take your merc solots here, as they are living "Cryx" models by the virtue of the Partisan rule.
  • Warwitch Sirens are notable here because they are SPD 7 warrior models with Parry and 1" melee, meaning they have a very easy time setting up Gang Fighter for your jacks.
• Double Death Archons are a strong reason to run Scavy here, as he is the strongest caster in Cryx for them. Telekinesis, Feat of Worms and Knowledge of the Damned dials them up to eleven.
  • Steelhead Ironhead - Specifically mentioned here because you only take this guy to crane around Death Archons (and Princess Delores, see below). Those extra 2" on the Archon threat range should not be underestimated, so this is definitetly 4 pts and a merc slot well spend.
• Misery Cage can feed him extra focus each turn.
• For Warcaster Attachments you can choose between Doctor Stygius or the Satyxis Blood Priestess.
  • The Blood Priestess spell-casting ability isn't as reliable as the Doctor's (she has to kill a living model first) but she provides a free upkeep and protection from ranged attacks. Generally he likes the Spell Slave more though.
• Barathrum - The hands down best character heavy in Cryx and a contender for best jack in the faction. With Gang Fighter it will leave a dent in everything it touches, Knowledge of the Damned Death Ward and Dig in make it surprisingly tanky for a Cryxian jack and Telekinesis and Drag Below make it deceptively mobile for a heavy.
• Scharde Dirge Seers - Guidance is an amazing buff for any spellslinger caster and their Hex Bolts benefit from his feat. They are a terrific requisition card for him in this theme. Also using Seduction to dislodge some Initiates of the Wall, or generally coaxing models into his Feat of Worms AOE can be great value if it comes up.

    Dark Host    

• The Overlords and Stygius can also go in this theme, but they will use up your Mercenary slot(s) in these two themes.
• Dark Host lets you take double Void Archons but you'll have to take a merc unit to fuel them with souls. Usually this is Croes for the Telekinesis synergy, which also gives you an excellent shooting component for an other wise melee heavy theme. The main downside to this is that with Croe's you cannot also take Asphyxious, which is a massive strike against it. In Scourge you can take double Death Archons, Gaspy, and still take some Cryx or merc troops to fuel the Archons with corpses.
• A Wraith Engine is a good model in its own right and Unhallowed and Death Ward make a unit of Banes really not worth shooting at.
• Darragh Wrathe - Same as the Wraith Engine but Mortal feat works better against melee than raged. He also makes Bane's faster.
• Bane Riders are multi wound models and thus take very well to all these ARM buffs. The single wound, small based, Banes will become very resistant to small arms fire, but will probably still fold in melee.
• Excarnate lets you add to play small based undead grunts, so it works for both Bane Warriors and Bane Knights. Tartarus also adds to the Bane recursion mechanic.

    Mercenaries    
Scaverous is a very merc friendly caster because he has an ARM debuff, meaning he buffs damage by dropping enemy stats, thus bypassing the "friendly faction" clause most direct damage buffs have. Knowledge of the Damned and Telekinesis are also faction independent abilites.

• Asphyxious4:
  • He brings an ARM debuff that Scav appreciates, which also aleviates the need to bring merc solos to do the same thing.
  • He gets boosted magic attacks from Scav's feat turn (but doesn't get cheaper spells).
  • Asphyxious4 an Iron Lich unit and thus does not take the merc slot in Black Industries, but will use up your Mercenary unit slot in any other theme.
• Cephalyx Overlords already mentioned above are actually Mercenary models, so can go in any theme. They are Cryx Partisans so sometimes use up your Merc slot, sometimes don't.
• Croe's Cutthroats have a strong synergy with Scaverous. They get an extra damage die if they shoot someone in the back arc, and Scav can use his TK spell to spin stuff around for them. Combine with the feast of Worms ARM debuff and they shoot extremely well.
• Wrong Eye has the Star-Crossed spell which stacks nicely with Knowledge of the Damned. Assuming you can get souls, that is. And assuming you have 17 points to spare.
• Ragman, Hermit, and Void Archons are different ways of getting damage buffs into your list. ARM is something Scav can struggle vs. They love being TK'd into position.
• Princess Delores Graciela is a ranged powerhouse solo second to none and thus loves TK and Feast of Worms to make her guns sing even more. She notably does not take your merc slot ever, due to her Master Mind rule, but does require you to run Asphyxious4 with a Toro (or Corbeau, which is a hard ask). This means you can use your merc solot on a solo, like the Steelhead Ironhead, who can crane her and your Archons around.

Battlegroup

Erebus is his pet warjack that he can take in any theme.

Scaverous likes at least two arc nodes, and normally rounds out his battlegroup with one heavy. He doesn't like to put lots of warjacks in his battlegroup, because he'd rather keep his focus to cast spells than allocate it to warjacks. As he is usually played in themes with character jacks, he takes one of those as they are usually better than Cryx's non-character heavy stable (see the respective theme sections.)

• Two Deathrippers plus his pet heavy warjack Erebus is only 1 point more than his WJP. Or swap Erebus for Barathrum to exactly meet his WJP (Barathrum is available in three themes).
• For one point more you can get a Nightwretch instead (or two for two), which many people consider a worthy upgrade for the gun.
• Seethers are sad when the enemy turns them around, because they HAVE to make a charge or run, but can't if they can see any enemies. TK solves this. Most people consider this using a band aid to affix a missing limb, though...

First Seven Purchases

A few veteran players have put their heads together and tried to figure out the seven best things to buy for this specific caster. This is not designed to add up to a nice round points limit, nor be balanced vs other "First Seven" lists you find on this website. It is simply going to give you some of the essentials this caster needs most of the time.

1. Warjack: Deathripper (x2)
2. Warjack: Barathrum
3. Solo: Void Archon
4. Solo: Doctor Stygius
5. Unit: Cephalyx Overlords
6. Unit: Asphyxious4
7. Warjack: Stalker

Scaverous' top 7 is a bit funny, in that it is mostly Mercenary/Partisan models instead of Cryx models. On the bright side, it does let you expand into any theme very easily.

Other

Trivia

• Released in the Wrath book (2011)
• Nicknames: Scavy

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 : Feat : Black Gate Black Gate doesn't affect enemies that use a Magic Ability to cast a spell. Black Gate doesn't affect what spells can/can't be cast via Geomancy, Spell Slave, Blood Boon, etc. (Infernal Confirmation) When combined with other abilities that change COST (such as Lamentation) use normal maths: double/halve first, then add/subtract. (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 : Thresher      (Edit) Thresher is a special attack. If you make additional attacks, they will be a single basic attack (you cannot buy additional special attacks). Thresher is optional. All attacks generated are Special Attacks. Thresher will hit friendly models. Simultaneous melee attack (Edit) There are several abilities/spells that allow a model to make simultaneous melee attacks vs everything in range (Blood Reaper, Cyclone, Flashing Blade, High-Impact, Thresher)       Some have Infernal Rulings that pertain only to themselves, but the clarifications below are applicable to all of these abilities:   [Show/Hide] Targeting/Timing To make a multi-melee-attack (MMA) you have to make individual melee attacks vs every model, and this means you need to target every model with a melee attack. If a model "may not be targeted by melee attacks" (such as Una2's feat) then you have to 'skip' it when you resolve the attack. (Infernal Ruling) The attacks are effectively multiple separate attacks. If you have a buff to your "next attack" (such as Tune Up) then it only works vs the first model you roll dice against, not vs every enemy. (Infernal Ruling). The attacks are simultaneous. If a model is out of LOS when you start the MMA, then you may not attack it during the MMA (even if the MMA kills what is blocking your LOS). You need to target everything, then resolve all effects that trigger on "target" before starting any attack rolls. Then complete all attack rolls and do everything that triggers on "hit" before starting any damage rolls, and etc. In practice and to save time though, if neither player has effects that trigger on "being targetted, hit, damaged, etc" then they'll normally do the hit and damage rolls on a model-by-model basis. If a model collects tokens from destroyed models (for instance the Cryx Harrower that collects souls), it cannot collect any tokens until all MMA are resolved. Charging If you charge and cast a spell to generate MMA, then none of those MMA count as a charge attack. You've "paused" your charge. If the charge target survives the spell, then you get to make a normal charge attack vs it. If your MMA is simply tied to your weapon, then only the damage roll against your charge target is automatically boosted - other models caught in the MMA suffer an unboosted damage roll (although you can spend focus/fury to boost it) Triggering other abilities Most abilities that give the attacker a bonus move/attack tend to use the phrase "destroy one or more enemy models with a melee attack" and as such you'll only trigger this ability once. For example Berserk, Quick Work, Black Spot, etc Other abilities, that trigger on "hit" or "damage", can be triggered from every attack in the MMA. Many abilities only trigger off a basic melee attack, so don't work with special MMA (like Thresher). But if your MMA is basic (like High-Impact), things might get a bit complicated. In particular: If you have Beat Back on the attacker, it is resolved after the attack. Every model that survives the MMA is eligible to be Beat Back-ed, and the attacker chooses the order. Pick one, push it and follow it, then decide if you want to Beat Back another survivor. Each push will recenter the directly away / directly toward part of the push. (Infernal Ruling) If you have Electro-Leap on the attack, it is resolved after all attack rolls but before any damage rolls. The models that you just attacked will have electo-leaps bounce between them (as they will generally be the closest to each other). After the Electro damage is resolved, you can roll melee damage vs any models that survived the electric damage. (Infernal Ruling)

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

General Damage from a feat is neither an attack nor Damage Type: Magical (unless the feat says it is). FOCUS (uppercase) is the stat printed on the warcaster's card. Focus (lowercase) refers to focus points a model currently has. Your CTRL area is double your FOCUS stat, not double your focus points. (Infernal Ruling) Casting spells or using feats is an anytime ability with the added restriction that you can't use them on the same turn you run even before you run. See also the clarifications on Any Time abilities (below). Some warcasters are also Battle Engines and thus follow all the Battle Engine special rules. There is no particular interaction between the Battle Engine rules and the Warcaster rules. Work out all damage modifiers (such as Decapitation doubling the damage that exceeds ARM) before reducing it with the Power Field. (Infernal Ruling) Restrictions on "Any Time" abilities     (Edit)         [Show/Hide] "Any Time" abilities can be used at any time during a model/unit's activation, except: Before any compulsory forfeiture of movement/action. See step 2 of the activation sequence, appendix A. After the model with the "Any Time" ability has had their activation end "prematurely". By this I mean you resolved something which includes the phrase "its activation ends". Examples include: Running, failing a charge, or failing a slam. Abilities that include "then its activation ends" (such as Reposition and Teleport). In between declaring your charge target and making your charge movement. (Infernal Ruling) In between completing your charge movement and determining whether it was a successful charge. (Infernal Ruling) When you're in the middle of moving. (Note: Impact Attacks count as being in the middle of movement). When you're in the middle of an attack. Which also includes effects that occur "after the attack is resolved". (Although the attack is "resolved" at Step 11, in terms of using an "Any Time" ability the attack is not "finished" until after Step 14. Refer to the first paragraph of Apdx A.) Your opponent interrupted your activation to trigger one of their own abilities (such as Countercharge). Warcasters/warlocks/etc can normally cast a spell or use their feat "At any time". However, there is a core rule saying they cannot do so on the same activation that they run. So, they are subject to all the same restrictions listed above, plus they can't cast/feat before running. Units: See below. In general you can use "Any Time" abilities while you're knocked down or stationary (except Spells and Feats which specify you can't). If you have a gun with a random ROF, you can use an "Any Time" ability inbetween rolling the number of shots and actually making the first attack. (Infernal Ruling) Units with "Any Time" abilities You cannot use an "Any Time" ability before issuing/receiving orders. See step 1 and 2 of the activation sequence, appendix A. A model in a unit can't use an "Any Time" ability after they run (Infernal Ruling) or fail a charge. Because that makes that specific model's activation to end even though the unit's activation is still ongoing, and you can't use abilities on models that are not active. You can use an "Any Time" ability before running, however. A model in a unit can't use an "Any Time" ability after anyone in the unit has begun a Reposition move. (Infernal Ruling) Warcaster/Warlock Cavalry ( Edit ) Warcasters/Warlocks can't cast spells or use their feat while resolving Impact Attacks. Because Impact Attacks occur during movement - you can use spells or feat before moving, or after moving, but not during movement. Exception: If your Impact target(s) include your charge target, then your movement has ended (refer rulebook, last paragraph of 'Impact Attacks') and thus you're fine to use "any time" abilities before starting the Impact attacks. Rules Clarification:  : Warcaster Unit or Warlock Unit     (Edit) (Click Expand to read) This summary is specific to Warcaster/Warlock units. You may also want to check the Warcaster and Warlock pages respectively, for the "regular" rules clarifications. All models in the unit count as part of the battlegroup. So, for instance, Butcher3's argus can be moved via his Energizer spell. Warcaster units can have attachments. They can even attach units (such as the WSC). (Infernal Ruling) The non-caster models are trooper models but are not normally Grunt models. Therefore they're not normally eligible for stuff like Revive. If any member of the unit start to do their reposition movement, the warcaster or warlock in the unit would no longer be able to feat.(Infernal Ruling) Press Forward Order vs Spells cast at Any Time (Edit) You must issue orders before anything else. If you issue a Press Forward order, you must run or charge. If you cast spells before moving, you can't run so you must charge. If you cast spells before moving, then start the spellcaster's Normal Movement but have no valid charge targets, you are in a situation where you must charge but cannot charge. In this situation the spellcaster must either: forfeit their Combat Action, use their Normal Movement to make a full advance, then their activation ends. (Note that you cannot cast more spells after the full advance). forfeit their Normal Movement, then their activation ends. (Infernal Ruling) Steamroller 2018 The non-caster models can contest scenario zones & flags. The caster model cannot contest. The caster model can control zones and flags by itself, but: to control a zone, the entire unit remaining in play needs to be in formation. to control a flag, the entire unit remaining in play must be within 4" of the flag. Units Buying Attacks (Edit) If you make attacks with model [A], then start making attacks with model [B], you cannot 'go back' and buy more attacks with [A]. Because: A model can only buy additional attacks during its Combat Action. A model in a unit must complete its Combat Action before the next model starts theirs (with some exceptions, like CMA). Rules Clarification : Unit of Warcasters or Warlocks     (Edit) Even though they're warcasters, if they're out of formation they suffer the normal penalties (can't make attacks, actions, spells, etc). They can't upkeep each other's spells. They can only dominate one SteamRoller scenario element at a time. Each warlock/warcaster can have different upkeeps on them if those upkeeps are "target SELF" or "target model". If you cast an upkeep that is "target model/unit", that is the only upkeep any of them can have. Units Buying Attacks (Edit) If you make attacks with model [A], then start making attacks with model [B], you cannot 'go back' and buy more attacks with [A]. Because: A model can only buy additional attacks during its Combat Action. A model in a unit must complete its Combat Action before the next model starts theirs (with some exceptions, like CMA). The Legion Twins Rhyas cannot dominate a zone while out of formation. Rhyas can use the feat while out of formation. Haley3 Only Haley Prime is an 'actual' warcaster model, and as such she is the only one that can dominate a scenario element. The echoes can Control/Contest scenarios like a normal unit. Haley Prime can dominate an element even if the echoes are out of formation.

Rules Clarification : Undead - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Knowledge of the Damned      (Edit) If both players have a Knowledge of the Damned, then only one player gets to use it. The active player chooses whether to use it first. (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Cull Soul - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Death Ward      (Edit) If Death Ward is on a Colossal, you still pick which column gets damaged - but not which grid. That's still determined via which field of fire the attacker is in. Attacker chooses column vs Defender chooses column (Edit) When both the attacker and defender have an ability that lets them choose the column that gets damaged, the attacker gets to choose. (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Excarnate      (Edit) If Excarnate is cast by a model without a Control Range (eg the Deathjack) then you can't summon a new grunt. You can still RFP the enemy though. Return/Add to Play - Typical (Edit) If you're returning/adding multiple models simultaneously, they are placed sequentially. Often this will let you leapfrog the "within 3" of [x]" requirement. If you're adding models to a unit, then typically there is no limit and you can go over the unit's starting size. However, some abilities do have a limit (such as Stir the Dead) If you're returning models to a unit, then you're limited by how many there are in the "dead but not removed from play" pile.     (See Add, Return, and Remove From Play for further detail.) If you're adding more models than you started with, then in a Tournament you must physically own the correct models - proxies are not allowed in tournaments. (Locked thread) Return/Add to Play - Other Units (Edit) "Return to Play" and "Add to Play" are quite simple if you only return models to your own unit (like Blood-Bound) or only return independent models (like Thagrosh1's feat). But if you're returning/adding models to other units, then click to read more.   [Show/Hide] If you can return multiple troopers at once, they don't all have to be the same unit. Spread the love around. Troopers must return to their original unit. Even if you have two units of the same type (such as two units of Convergence Eradicators) then you can't have 4 die from unit [A] and return them all to unit [B]. If your rule is something like "return d3 models to units within CMD range" (Old Witch3) then it is d3 models total, not d3 models to each and every unit. If your rule is something like "spend 1 soul to return 1 Grunt" (Enigma Foundry) then it doesn't matter where the souls came from originally. Think of them like currency, in this case. You can Return models even after a unit is reduced to just Attachments (Weapon or Command) If your Return ability lets you return a Leader or Officer model, then they will immediately become the unit commander and redefine the "in formation" bubble. If your Return ability only allows Grunts, then the Grunt will not be field promoted when he arrives. This means that, in the unusual scenario where the Leader model has different wargear to the Grunts (such as Cygnar Stormguard), then that wargear is effectively 'lost'.

Rules Clarification : Feast of Worms      (Edit) If you cast Feast of Worms at a model/unit that already has an upkeep on it then it won't make the first upkeep expire. (Infernal Ruling) The ARM debuff is applied as soon as the AOE template is placed, so it applies to the damage roll of the initial spell. But don't take the shortcut of saying "Feast of Worms 'real POW' is POW + 2" because of the interaction with calculating blast damage. "Regardless of proximity" soul takers (Edit) The model which ignores distance doesn't always get the soul. Abilities which say you "can't" collect souls (such as Soul Ward) trump it, due to the general rule that "can't trumps can". If there are multiple models that all have the "regardless of proximity" clause, then you randomise who the soul goes to. (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Icy Grip      (Edit) The restriction from making power attacks is not a typo, even though this spell can only target warrior models. (Infernal Ruling) Being affected by Icy Grip does not prevent models from charging. A model that receives a Press Forward order but has no enemy models to charge, can still pick the "run" option and then follow the rules for "must run but cannot run". (Which results in it making a normal advance and ending its activation).

Rules Clarification : Soul Harvester      (Edit) "Regardless of proximity of other models" means exactly what it says. (Infernal Ruling) Power Attacks are melee attacks, so will trigger Soul Harvester. (Locked thread) Colleteral damage is not considered to be from an attack, so won't trigger SH. (Locked thread) "Regardless of proximity" soul takers (Edit) The model which ignores distance doesn't always get the soul. Abilities which say you "can't" collect souls (such as Soul Ward) trump it, due to the general rule that "can't trumps can". If there are multiple models that all have the "regardless of proximity" clause, then you randomise who the soul goes to. (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Telekinesis      (Edit) If an enemy model with 2" melee range was B2B with you before the Telekinesis, it will still be exactly 2" away afterwards and thus will still engage you (unless you move completely out of their front arc). Being placed into an area counts as entering that area. So you'll take damage from acid clouds etc if you're dumb enough to teleport into them. You can change the facing of the model that you place. In fact that's one of the main uses of the spell.