Rager

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Khador Logo.jpg Rager

Khador Heavy Warjack

Mk4 icon.png
Prime
This model is available in one Prime Army, 5th Division. 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.

Soon after the first Berserkers proved their worth in battle, hacking into infantry with their twin axes, the Khadoran High Kommand borrowed its chassis to develop other equally brutal machines. With the Mad Dog trampling forward to crush enemies with bloodthirsty glee and the shield-bearing Rager standing firm as an imposing eight-ton bodyguard, these warjacks are far from obsolete on the modern battlefield.

Basic Info

Rager
Missing Info
Rager.jpg
COST {{{cacost}}}
UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}}
FA {{{cafa}}}
Warcaster 0
BASE Large
SPD 4
STR 11
MAT 6
RAT 4
M.A. N/A
DEF 11
ARM 18(20) (★)
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}}}
FA U
UNIT SIZE N/A
COST 9
N/A
N/A
(★) 20 when you include the Shield
Warcaster 1
COST N/A
(★) Has only 2 Cortex hitboxes
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

  • Construct symbol.jpg Construct
  • Point-Blank - During its activation, this model can make melee attacks with its ranged weapon, with a melee range of 0.5". Do not add this model's STR to damage rolls with ranged weapons. Charge attacks made with ranged weapons are not boosted.
  • Shield Guard - Once per round, when a friendly model is directly hit by a non-spray ranged attack during your opponent's turn while within 3" of this model, you can choose to have this model directly hit instead. This model is automatically hit and suffers all damage and effects. This model cannot use Shield Guard while it is incorporeal, knocked down, or stationary. The Shield Guard special rule can only trigger once per attack roll.
  • 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

Shield Cannon
Gun icon.jpg  RNG   ROF   AOE   POW   LOCATION 
8 1 - 15 Left
Shield
Sword icon.jpg  RNG   POW   P+S   LOCATION 
1 2 13 Left
Gladius
Sword icon.jpg  RNG   POW   P+S   LOCATION 
1 4 15 Right

Theme Forces


Thoughts on the Rager

Rager 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.

You can't talk about the Rager without thinking of its "main purpose" as a Shield Guard. Compared to some alternatives like the Vanguard, Bulkhead, or a Ogrun Bokur those options can be cheaper and faster, but none of them are bigger or nastier than the Rager. It's a Khador heavy with the armor to match and the weapons to do serious damage for its cost, especially with a bit of support. It has 3 initial attacks, none of which are trivial and the Point Blank on its Shield Cannon lets it benefit especially from global buffs that boost melee accuracy. And, well, it needs that bit of help hitting. The Rager more than justifies its additional cost with a potent mix of defensive and offensive abilities for any encounter.

Combos & Synergies

Warjack controllers that play forward and/or are difficult to screen due to their base size love the Rager. Shield Guard is a very useful ability to keep chip damage and status effects away from your important models and having it on a cheap and Large model is the Rager's main claim to fame. Don't think of the Rager is just a defensive piece though, it has three decently powerful initial attacks to mix it up in melee with and revels working under controllers that can boost its SPD, MAT or POW on its weapons. 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 combat prowess.

    Warcasters    

  • Butcher1: Despite being unable to help them with their mobility, Orsus is an excellent warcaster for archaic 'jacks. In fact, you'd think the Rager was custom built for him. With it's Shield Guard ability, it can block shots heading towards his big, fat Medium Base without it having to be particularly close. His Fury makes two of the Rager's initial attacks an effective P+S 18, allowing it to adequately threaten Armor. His extremely efficient Full Throttle spell will make the Rager's attacks reliably hit things without ever triggering Unstable, and combining with his Blood Frenzy feat can turn them into absolute melee monsters for a turn. A small horde of Berserkers and Ragers make for a terribly efficient 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.
  • Kommander Harkevich supports it with Broadsides, Mobility, and feat synergy. Harkevich also likes a Jack to stand by his side for most of the game, due to his Iron Sentinel ability.
  • 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 Ragers from meh to pretty good in melee and her Stoke the Fires spell pushes their mobility and aggression to match their appetites.
  • Vladimir1: 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.
  • Vladimir3: He fixes its SPD and accuracy against warriors with Infernal Machine and works well with his feat. Remember that point blank makes his shot a melee attack so he will get side step and benefit from murderous on this attack.
  • 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!

    Junior Warcasters    
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. Ragers warjacks are very cheap and pack Shield Guard for protection, mitigating the risk of losing a battle if a controller goes down.

  • Malakov1: 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.
  • Sorscha0: 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.

    Other    

  • Greylord Forge Seer: Both a great Marshal and support model for the Rager, it likes being safely Empowered and makes decent use of his Drive.
  • Man-o-War Kovnik: Ragers are great Man-o-War bodyguards and can acually make good use of the Kovnik's Drive. While Point Blank already lets it use the Shield Cannon in melee, the Drive extends its ranged threat range, which is very nice on a weapon with just RNG 8.

Drawbacks & Downsides

  • Typical for Khadoran warjacks, it has low native SPD and DEF.
  • If the enemy doesn't want to shoot at anything near it the Rager loses some of its utility.
  • Its POW 15 attacks aren't very 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.
  • Unstable: It never works when you want it to, and it always works when you don't want it to.
    • You can't rely on it to block charge lanes, threaten free strikes, etc. You always have to plan your other models' positions around the assumption that Unstable removes this model.

Tricks & Tips

  • Remember that the Point Blank range on its Shield Cannon is only 0.5" while the RNG on its Shield and Gladius are 1". Don't miss out on an initial attack by assuming the Rager can reach anything within 1" of it!
    • This issue is somewhat mitigated if it is controlled by a model that gives it Assault, like the Man-o-War Kovnik.
  • Point-Blank is a melee attack, so make sure you add modifiers (such as Unyielding) accordingly.
  • 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 Rager needs both it Cortex and Movement systems to be functional.

Other

Trivia

Other Khador models

Khador Logo.jpg       Khador Index       (Edit)
Battlegroup & Similar
Warcasters

Butcher1 - Butcher2 - Butcher3 - Harkevich - Irusk1 - Irusk2 - Karchev1 - Karchev2 - 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

Beast-09 - Behemoth - Berserker - Black Ivan - Decimator - Demolisher - Destroyer - Devastator - Drago - Grolar - Juggernaut - Kodiak - Mad Dog - Marauder - Rager - Ruin - Spriggan - Torch

Colossal Conquest - Victor
Units, Solos, & Battle Engines
Units

Assault Kommandos - Battle Mechaniks - Black Dragons - Doom Reaver Swordsmen - Great Bears of the Gallowswood - Greylord Outriders - Greylord Ternion - Iron Fang Pikemen - Iron Fang Uhlans - Kayazy Assassins - Kayazy Eliminators - Kossite Woodsmen - MOW Atanas & Standard - MOW Bombardiers - MOW Demolition Corps - MOW Shocktroopers - Widowmaker Scouts - WG Field Gun - WG Infantry - WG Mortar Crew - WG Rifle Corps
Ranking Officer CA : Koldun Kapitan Valachev

Solos

Bulkhead - Fenris - Greylord Adjunct - Greylord Forge Seer - Iron Fang Kovnik - Jozef - Koldun Lord - Malakov1 - Manhunter - MOW Drakhun - MOW Kovnik - MOW Strike Tanker - MOW Suppresion Tanker - Markov - Sofya - Sorscha0 - Ol' Grim - Underboss Vizkoya - War Dog - Widowmaker Marksman - WG Artillery Kapitan - Yuri1 - Yuri2

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 - Legions 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: 2021.11

Rules Clarifications

RC symbol.png

Rules Clarification : Shield and/or Buckler     (Edit)

  • The only time you lose the Shield bonus is when the weapon is crippled, or if the attack originates in your back arc. (Infernal Ruling)
    • In other words, you still get the Shield bonus while knocked down or stationary.
  • You don't get the Shield bonus vs stuff originating in your back arc. This includes stuff that "leaps" off models in your back arc, such as Electro Leap. (Locked thread)
RC symbol.png

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)

RC symbol.png

Rules Clarification : Point-Blank      (Edit)

  • Number of attacks
    • Point-Blank gives you an extra initial melee attack (even though, RAW, it doesn't meet the criteria). (Infernal Ruling)
    • If you can make additional melee attacks, these can be Point-Blank attacks regardless of the weapon's ROF. (Locked Thread)
    • If you have the option of choosing between ranged or melee attacks (for instance you combined Point-Blank with Gunfighter), then you need to declare whether you're making melee or ranged attacks this activation, then declare the weapon and the target. (Infernal Ruling)
  • AOE
    • Point-Blank AOEs work just fine, because the AOE template isn't tied to the range.
    • You make a melee attack roll then if you hit you centre the AOE template, or you miss and deviate the AOE template (it can only deviate 0.25").
    • If you have a buff to melee damage rolls (such as Flaming Fists) then it will affect the blast damage rolls too.
  • Sprays
    • Point-Blank sprays don't really work. The spray template is intrinsically linked to the attack's range, and Point-Blank overwrites the range.
    • You still get one attack tho - you make the melee attack roll, then go straight to the melee damage roll. You never put the spray template down.
  • Other
    • Since Point-Blank only works during your activation, you can't use it on free strikes or other out-of-activation melee attacks.
  • Gunfighter vs Point Blank (Edit)
    • If a model has both Gunfighter and Point Blank, then you should declare whether you're using it as a ranged attack or melee attack whenever you shoot the gun. Because that can limit what other initial/additional attacks you can make. (Infernal Ruling)
    • These two abilities are subtly different, but it's an important difference.
    • Gunfighter allows you to make ranged attacks while in melee.
    • Point blank allows you to make melee attacks with your ranged weapon.
      • Since you can't make both ranged and melee attacks in the same turn, a Gunfighter model has a choice of either initial melee attack(s) or initial ranged attack(s). (unless it has Virtuoso or something).
      • Whereas a Point Blank model chooses to make initial melee attacks, and then gets to make attacks with both weapons.
    • Furthermore, the types of bonuses, penalties, and special effects you (or your opponent) can trigger will change dramatically:
      • Any buffs/triggers on ranged attacks (such as Evasive, Shield Guard, Deadeye, etc) will affect Gunfighter attacks, but not Point Blank attacks.
      • Any buffs/triggers on melee attacks (such as Battle Lust, Riposte etc) will affect Point Blank attacks, but not Gunfighter attacks.
RC symbol.png

Rules Clarification : Shield Guard and/or Shadow Guardian     (Edit)

  • You can't use this ability vs spells.
  • You shift all effects onto the new model, including stuff that triggers on "when this attack hits".
  • When you use this ability vs an AOE attack, the template moves too. Because, with reference to Apdx A, the hit 'moves' at Step 6 and the template placement is determined at Step 7.
  • This ability doesn't work vs Point Blank attacks. Because Point Blank attacks are melee attacks that are made using a ranged weapon.
    • On the other hand, it will work vs Gunfighter attacks.
  • Shield Guard only
    • Since Shield Guard specifies "opponent's turn", it can't be used against stuff that shoots in your own turn (such as Watcher or Counterblast).
    • The Shield Guard does not necessarily need to be in the attacker's LOS or range.
    • The Shield Guarder is always hit even if they have an ability that makes them automatically get missed, such as Stealth. (Automatically missing is determined earlier in the timing sequence than the Shield Guard moving the hit.) (Infernal Ruling)
RC symbol.png

Rules Clarification : Unstable      (Edit)

  • You have to resolve Unstable even if some other triggered ability causes a "activation ends immediately" situation. (Infernal Ruling)
  • You can spend a focus even if you have a buff that says "Warjack can do [X] without spending focus" (such as Full Throttle or Boundless Charge). The "can" is optional. (Locked Thread)
  • Not considered an attack & "Non-attack damage roll" (Edit)   [Show/Hide]
    • There are two ways you can get these "non-attack" damage rolls.
      • Type 1 - A secondary damage roll that is not considered to be an attack. Some attacks create a second damage roll that is explicitly "not considered an attack" (such as Electro Leap).
        (Note that although the secondary damage roll is not an attack, the original attack certainly is and will trigger stuff normally. These clarifications don't apply to the original attack.)
      • Type 2 - A damage roll that's not from an attack. Some special abilities & special actions tell you to make a damage roll without mentioning whether it is considered an attack or not (such as Vent Steam and Flak Field).
    • When it comes to other abilities that trigger on damage (such as Vengeance) both types function the same way. For brevity we'll refer to both as "Pure Damage".

    • Pure damage is not an attack, so doesn't trigger stuff like Vengeance.
    • Pure damage is not an attack, so doesn't benefit from stuff that affects 'attack damage rolls' (such as Bethayne1's feat). (Infernal Ruling)
    • 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.)
    • Pure damage is not from an attack, but it is (normally) damage from the original model. This has two implications:
      1. 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)
      2. It is a damage roll from a model so:
    • Exception: Some damage is not from an attack and not from a model (for example, Collateral damage). In this case, you should reverse the stuff listed under #2 above.