Stalker

Stalker Cryx Light 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 Stalker is a nightmarish fusion of darkness and steel designed for a single purpose: to butcher those who oppose the will of the Dragonfather. With a shadowy hull that seemingly writhes and ripples in the light, this insidious creation is nearly indiscernible from a distance.

Stalker, the Cryx warjack Warpwolf Stalker, the Circle Orboros warbeast

Basic Info

Stalker
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Medium SPD 7 STR 7 MAT 7 RAT N/A M.A. N/A DEF 15 ARM 13 CMD N/A ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS N/A FURY N/A THRS N/A HP 18 F. Field N/A WJP {{{wjp}}} WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} FA U UNIT SIZE N/A COST 8 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

• Construct
• Stealth
• Pathfinder
• Advance Deployment
• Bounding Leap - Once per activation, after making a full advance as its Normal Movement but before performing its Combat Action, this model can spend 1 focus to be placed completely within 5" of its current location.
• Extended Control Range - When checking to see if this model is in its controller's control range, double the range.

Weapons

Eviscerator x2
		RNG				POW				P+S				LOCATION
		1				5				12				Left + Right one each
Blessed 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
  • Dark Host
  • The Ghost Fleet
  • Scourge of the Broken Coast. Stalker gains Gang Fighter in this theme.

• 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 Stalker

Stalker in a nutshell

The Stalker is an assassin. It is perfectly suited to work on the flanks, with Extended Control Range and Stealth keeping it safe. Even if it gets engaged, its high DEF will keep it safe from most unboosted attacks. It's fast, has Pathfinder to get to its target, and has good enough MAT and P+S to wreck most non-warjack models. And let's be honest, that thing is just downright creepy looking.

It's generally either an early-game piece used to scalpel out a key solo that has positioned itself badly (sometimes it is worth throwing away an 8 point warjack to kill a 4-5 point solo), or a mid-game piece that runs up the flanks for the first couple of turns. It doesn't normally survive to the late-game.

Combos & Synergies

• Any caster that can give it extra movement, to close the last little gap to the enemy caster. For example, Mortenebra1 (Overrun), Scaverous (Telekinesis), or The Coven (Infernal Machine). In a pinch, Sturgis2's feat also counts.
• It is useful to Mortenebra2's feat. It can jump into an enemy's back arc to trigger Flank, without blocking your heavies' charge lanes.
• Usual caveat of the Cryx de-buff engine: stack abilities (Bane Warriors Dark Shroud), feats and spells (pDenny), or STR buffs (Skarre1) to let it punch way above its weight class.
• They're a popular choice for Aiakos1 who can speed them up (Escort) and, because Aiakos has a low Focus stat, he appreciates their extended control range. Also, you get an all-stealth, all-jump, secondary battlegroup, which is pretty cool.
  • I particularly like Aiakos1 and Scaverous, because between them they can push the Stalker's threat range up to an absurd 19".
• Since they often work on the flank, they can be good in the Theme Forces with ambushing units (Black Industries or Scourge of the Broken Coast). If the enemy moves towards the flank to deal with the Stalker, your ambushing unit can jump in to help out.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Has all the durability of a wet paper bag.
• It relies on the high DEF and stealth to survive, so anything that auto-hits will give it a bad day.
• Unbuffed it struggles against high ARM targets.
• The model is difficult to assemble. First off the arms/legs can be difficult to align without them hitting each other, and second you've got 4 tiny contact points with the base. Most players put a piece of decorative scenery on the base and stab the legs through it, and/or put the legs adjacent to the scenery and put glue on the side of the leg.

Tricks & Tips

• Jump is a place effect, not an advance. Use it to circumvent enemy abilities which trigger on "advance" (such as Admonition, Counter Charge, Enliven).
• Sometimes, if assassination is difficult to come by, it can be worthwhile to sacrifice the Stalker to finish off an enemy objective.
• You threaten 2" further with a Jump than you do with a Charge, for the same focus cost. Very useful when your target cannot be charged (like Polarity Shielded units). On the other hand, if you Jump you don't get boosted damage on your first attack. Choose wisely.

Other

Trivia

Grim Stalker, Mini Crate exclusive

• Released in Warmachine: Escalation (2004)
• 2004 Sculptor: John Winter
• This model has a limited edition sculpt, released in 2019.12.

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 : 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 : Blessed and/or Creator's Wrath     (Edit) Blessed ignores spell buffs even if they're not directly on the target. (For example, Haley3's Temporal Distortion spell is cast on Haley and gives a DEF buff to everyone within 5". Blessed ignores it on everyone, not just on Haley.) (Locked thread) You only ignore the DEF/ARM buff if the spell directly adds to the stat (for example Arcane Shield gives +3 ARM). Whereas a spell which grants an ability, and the ability gives a DEF/ARM buff, would not be ignored by Blessed (for example Cloak of Ash gives a model concealment, and concealment gives +2 DEF). (Infernal Ruling) If a spell buffs DEF/ARM and [something else] then you ignore the buff but not the [something else]. (For example, the spell Death Ward grants +2 ARM and the defender chooses which column suffers damage. You would ignore the ARM bonus, but the defender still picks the column.) This ability only ignores buffs from spells, not buffs from feats (such as Stryker1's Invincibility +5 ARM) or abilities (such as Protective Aura's +2 ARM).

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 : Stealth      (Edit) Stealth models are not invisible and you can target them - you'll just auto-miss most of the time. You can target them with a charge. You can target them with an AOE, have it auto-miss and scatter, luckily land on top of them anyway, and that will hit them.

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

Rules Clarification : Advance Deployment      (Edit) Sometimes you can attach a WA or CA that doesn't have AD to a unit that does have AD. If you do, the attachment effectively gains AD and they can all advance deploy together. (Locked Thread)

Rules Clarification : Bounding Leap and/or Jump and/or Leap     (Edit) You cannot use this ability if you forfeit your movement, because "After making a full advance" is a conditional requirement. (Infernal Ruling) You can only use this ability after a full advance, which means you can't do it after a Slam, Trample, or Charge. You can use "At any time" abilities between completing your move and doing the Jump/Leap. (Infernal Ruling) Jumps & Leaps are a "placement". They do not trigger free strikes, and you can even jump over solid buildings of infinite height. If you cannot advance more than 0" (for example suffering from Shadow Bind) then you can Jump/Leap. Making an advance of 0" is sufficient to trigger Jump/Leap. Jump only You cannot use Jump if you are suffering "any effect which prevents charging". So... If you forfeit your Normal Movement, you cannot Jump. (For the same reason as given above.) If you forfeit your Combat Action, you cannot Jump. (Infernal Ruling) If you "cannot make attacks" (such as with Morvahna1's feat), you cannot charge, therefore cannot Jump. (Locked Thread) Unit with Jump Complete all the models' Normal Movement before starting any Jumps. Then do all Jumps (that you can do and/or want to do) before starting any Combat Actions. (Infernal Ruling) Models in a unit can Jump even if they don't receive a Press Forward order (failing to be told to charge is not the same as being prevented from charging). (Infernal Ruling)