Zaateroth, The Weaver of Shadows
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Zaateroth, The Weaver of Shadows |
Zaateroth is a fell master of tremendous intellect and will, an entity whose very appearance can overwhelm lesser minds, forcing them to their knees. She possesses an aura of alien grace and majesty that is both cold and terrifying. It is no wonder that in ancient times, those who witnessed Zaateroth thought her a dark goddess, and in occult texts, she is described as a personification of death and decay. At her least touch, corporeal forms begin to lose coherence, falling to ruin as if left to age for a thousand years. Shadows move about her like specters, and in these shadows is the essence of the Outer Abyss.
Basic Info
Zaateroth1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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- Infernal Master - This model is the Infernal equivalent of a warcaster or warlock. They have a number of unique rules (which you can read here), but fulfil the same role; namely, being really awesome at everything.
Feat - Whispering Void
- While in Zaateroth's control range, friendly Faction models gain +3 DEF.
- When an enemy model misses a friendly Faction model in Zaateroth's control range with an attack, immediately after the attack is resolved place the friendly model anywhere completely within 3" of its current location unless it was missed while advancing.
- Whispering Void lasts for one round.
Abilities
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Pathfinder
- Long Shadows - When a friendly Faction model in this model's command range is targeted by a ranged attack, the attack suffers -3 RNG.
- 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 essence during your next Control Phase, replace each soul token with 1 essence point.
- Veneficium - When a spell or special rule on an enemy model causes one or more of this model's upkeep spells to expire, the enemy model suffers d3 damage points for each of this model's upkeep spells that expire.
Weapons
Echoes of Dissolution | ||||||||||||||
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RNG | ROF | AOE | POW | ||||||||||
12 | 1 | 3 | 14 | |||||||||||
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Infernal Touch | ||||||||||||||
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RNG | POW | P+S | |||||||||||
1 | 3 | 10 | ||||||||||||
Spells
COST | RNG | AOE | POW | DUR | OFF | ||
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Black Spot
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3 | 8 | - | - | Upkeep | Yes | |
(1) Target enemy warrior model/unit suffers -2 DEF. (2) When a friendly Faction model destroys one or more affected models with a basic melee or ranged attack during its Combat Action, immediately after the attack is resolved it can make one additional melee or ranged attack. Attacks gained from Black Spot cannot generate additional attacks from Black Spot. | |||||||
Ghost Walk
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2 | 6 | - | - | Turn | No | |
Target friendly Faction model/unit gains Ghostly for one turn.
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Rebuke
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2 | 10 | - | - | Upkeep | Yes | |
Target model/unit cannot give orders, receive orders, or make power attacks or special attacks. | |||||||
Rites of Torment
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3 | SELF | Control | - | Upkeep | - | |
When a friendly Faction model in the spellcaster's control range destroys one or more enemy models with a melee or ranged attack during its activation, immediately after the attack is resolved one horror in the spellcaster's battlegroup that is in its control range can advance up to 3". A horror can advance only once per turn as a result of Rites of Torment. | |||||||
Scything Touch
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2 | 6 | - | - | Upkeep | No | |
Target friendly Faction model gains Dark Shroud.
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Stygian Abyss
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3 | 10 | - | 12 | (★) | Yes | |
On a critical hit, the model hit suffers Blind for one round.
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Theme Forces
Thoughts on Zaateroth
Zaateroth in a Nutshell
Zaateroth is a powerful control ’caster with a suite of powerful spells and rules to help disable her opponent’s army.
Zaateroth's "gun" is a high POW with an AOE that collects souls and can be reloaded, giving her a pretty decent method of Soul Collection against enemy infantry formations, or she could, y'know, just shoot the enemy warcaster with it and kill them. It is fairly versatile.
You may have noticed that Zaateroth has several upkeeps, and she should definitely make decisions between upkeeping them, which could put a strain on her ability to summon, while also casting other useful spells, like Ghost Walk, or even throwing out a boosted Stygian Abyss. However, since upkeeps can be a crucial part of her gameplan, her Veneficium will punish opponents who dispel them.
In concept, Zaateroth should provide powerful utility to her army (and some debuffs to her opponents), but not the pure arcane might of Agathon. She is also not as beefy as Omodamos, but much sturdier than Agathon. She should be versatile, and let you make different decisions each turn, between buffing your models, or trying to stymie your enemy, or summoning, or shooting, etc.
Spell thoughts
- Black Spot is both a DEF fixer and a source of extra attacks, two things that have synergy with the Desolator, allowing up to 4 sprays a turn against it's favorite food, infantry.
- Ghost walk get around some of the pathfinder issues certain infernals have. Note that is can be spell slaved by D'Vyaros which can save Zaat more essence than a harmonious exaltation would provide.
- Rebuke can heavily disrupt infantry that cannot cleanse it off them, especially if they need to charge to do work, or have shield wall.
- Rites of Torment is exactly the same as Road to War and Warpath, and is a ridiculously flexible threat extender. Use it to get your horrors up the board, or allow them a psuedo side-step to dig deeper into enemy lines, or reposition after one spray to line up more targets for the second... there's almost too many potential applications to list.
- Scything Touch is an easy to apply +2 melee damage swing, meaning Zaat can achieve a +6 with Desolators and the Hermit.
- Stygian Abyss is Zaateroths standard nuke spell, though there's little reason to use it when she's already sporting a great ranged attack. Boosting to try for the blind could potentially disable battle engines for a turn.
Feat thoughts
Zaateroth's feat ramps up her army defense, helping deliver them across the table, or making trading more challenging once the lines have clashed. Additionally, it forces your opponent to expend resources ensuring they actually hit, because a miss gives the model a free 3" place, almost like a Super Duper Dodge.
Drawbacks & Downsides
Between casting and/or maintaining 4 upkeeps, wanting to take advantage of the powerful summoning mechanic, and keeping some essence for transfers it really feels like 7 Essence is not enough. She has a large tool box of options, but if the right tool is not used at the right time it can be punished by the opposing player.
Getting her caught up in melee also feels quite bad as she has very little for melee output (single pow 10 at mat 6). Often ghostwalk is your best way out when opponents tie her up in melee, which feels rough due to how tight her essence feels already.
Her huge and powerful spell list feels very strong, but unlike traditional Warmachine and Hordes casters, you will often be spending 3-4 of your essence up front for a summon, leaving a lot of options for spells but very little essence to spend on them.
Tricks & Tips
Don't forget about her gun. With Black Spot and reload she could potentially kill 4 things and collect 4 souls. Also dont forget that her reload shot can be purchased with the soul from one of her earlier shots.
Don't be afraid to cut for essence if you only need to replenish 2 or 3 instead of sacrificing a cultist, particularly if there is a healing objective nearby.
List Building Advice
Strategy
Its main method of winning is ...Placeholder
For example: "using her feat turn to get a melee/ranged/spell assassination" "attrition then win on scenario" "board control then win on scenario" "sending a jack in, to beat the enemy warcaster's face into pulp" "etc"
Army
Stuff it likes to take to help achieve this strategy is ... Placeholder
Other
Trivia
- Released with the Faction launch (2019.06)
Other Infernal models
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Unique Rules : Masters, Horrors, Essence, & Summoning | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Infernal Masters | Agathon - Omodamos - Zaateroth | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Attachment | Lord Roget d'Vyaros | Master Infernalist | Princess Regna | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lesser | Foreboder | Light | Lamenter - Shrieker | Heavy | Desolator - Soul Stalker - Tormentor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Units, Solos, & Structures | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Structures | Infernal Gate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Solos |
Eilish1 - Eilish2 - Great Princess Regna Gravnoy (Master Infernalist) - Hermit of Henge Hold - Lord Roget d'Vyaros - Lynda the Forgotten - Nicia2 - Orin1 - Saxon Orrik - Runewood2 - The Wretch - Umbral Guardian - Valin Hauke, The Fallen Knight | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Units | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Theme Forces | Mercenaries | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dark Legacy - Hearts of Darkness | J.A.I.M.s | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This index was last updated: 2020.12 |
Rules Clarifications
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Rules Clarification : Infernal Master (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Inscrutable - None yet. (Edit) |
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Rules Clarification : Pathfinder (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Long Shadows - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Cull Soul - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Veneficium - None yet. (Edit)
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Rules Clarification: : Magical Damage (Edit) |
* 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)
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Rules Clarification : Black Mark (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Reload (Edit)
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Rules Clarification: : Black Spot (Edit) |
* Black Spot only triggers from basic attacks. Power Attacks, (★ Attack)s, and Chain Attacks will not trigger it.
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Rules Clarification : Ghost Walk (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Rebuke - None yet. (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Road to War and/or Warpath and/or Rites of Torment (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Scything Touch (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Stygian Abyss (Edit)
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