Latest revision as of 17:45, 15 November 2022

Aurum Legate Lukas di Morray Crucible Guard Llaelese Warcaster

Prime This model is available in one Prime Army, Crucible Guard. 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.

Lukas di Morray has kept the rebellious fire of the Order of the Golden Crucible burning in Llael even after the loss of its old headquarters. Driven by a need for new weapons in his war against the Khadorans who seized his homeland, di Morray risked everything to unlock his latent arcane potential. Lukas tested an unstable alchemical formula on himself, and by this succeeded in becoming the first self-made warcaster. Eventually the serum he injects will cost him his life, but he considers the price a small one in exchange for the power it gives him to achieve his retribution.

Basic Info

Lukas1
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Small SPD 6 STR 6 MAT 7 RAT 6 M.A. N/A DEF 15 ARM 16 CMD 8 ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS 5 (★) FURY N/A THRS N/A HP 18 F. Field N/A WJP +26 WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} FA N/A UNIT SIZE N/A COST N/A N/A N/A (★) See also his Juicer rule 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 : Overdose

Di Morray immediately gains one juice token and 1 focus point, then warjacks in his battlegroup currently in his control range gain 1 focus point. Additionally, di Morray gains Range Amplifier this activation.

Range Amplifier - When this model casts a spell and is the point of origin of the spell, it gains +5" RNG.

Abilities

• Detox (★ Action) - Remove any number of juice tokens from this model.
• Health Care - This model does not suffer damage from Juicer while it has two or fewer juice tokens on it and is in Little Alyce’s command range.
• Juicer - (1) During your Maintenance Phase, you can place one juice token on this model. (2) For each juice token on this model, this model gains +1 FOCUS. (3) At the end of each of this model’s activations, roll a d6. If the result is equal to or less than the number of juice tokens on this model, then it suffers 1 damage point for each juice token on it. This model cannot spend focus points to reduce this damage.
• Rapid Healing - When this model is damaged by an enemy attack, immediately after the attack is resolved remove d3 damage points from it.
• Irregulars [ Alyce Marc ] - Alyce Marc can be included in any army that also contains this model.

Weapons

Hand Cannon
		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW
		12			1			-			12
Regulus
		RNG				POW				P+S
		2				7				13
Damage Type: Magical Exothermic Reaction - When this attack boxes a living or undead model, centre a 4" AOE on the boxed model, then RFP the model. Models in the AOE are hit and suffer an unboostable POW 12 fire damage roll and suffer the Fire continuous effect. This damage is not considered to have been caused by an attack. This model is not affected by Exothermic Reaction.

Spells

Theme Forces

• Crucible Guard
  • Prima Materia
  • Magnum Opus

• Other Factions
  • Infernal players can use him in the Hearts of Darkness theme.

Thoughts on Lukas

Lukas in a nutshell

Lukas is a user and abuser. His core concept is based around consuming dangerous chemicals that give him his warcaster abilities. As “Aurum Legate”, Lukas is also the highest-ranking member of the Order of the Golden Crucible active in the Crucible Guard’s fight in Llael.

The ‘Juicer’ mechanic is core to his identity. As you will find many of the warcasters in this faction, Lukas’ spell list is tied very thematically to alchemy. This is represented by things like Burning Ash, Disintegration, and Iron Flesh. Part of the effects of the serum is heightened telekinetic abilities. These are currently represented by Force Hammer and Telekinesis. He is a formidable warrior and should be threatening in combat. Lukas should not be a super-durable front-line caster but should have an active role on the battlefield.

The premier Spell slinger for the faction. Able to dump all focus into spells, feat, and do it all over again at FOCUS 8. Unfortunately he is not played

Spell thoughts

Lukas has (with his normal 8 Focus) an absolutely excellent spell list assuming he's something to channel through. Probably a Liberator.

• Disintegration - a three cost zap doesn't seem good, but a three cost non-upkeep ARM debuff is excellent. One of the best spells an 8 FOCUS spell slinger could have. Note that the debuff is applied before the damage roll, so the spell is effectively POW 15.
• Burning Ash lets him set up a cloud wall - possibly with the help of Combat Alchemists. Very useful.
• Iron Flesh is an excellent upkeep infantry-buff
• Force Hammer is a very situational attack spell. If you see the enemy line things up for you, you might want to use it. But probably not.

• 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.

Feat thoughts

Placeholder - this section needs updating to reflect Lukas' new Juicer/Feat interplay.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Low FOCUS stat.
• He is effectively limited to Magnum Opus theme because of his crippling reliance on access to healing (most of which is Ranking Officer + mercenaries, which aren't available in the other theme).
• To fully utilize his spell list he needs to Juice more often than not.
• Max Juicing and keeping your tokens can telegraph your game-plan.
• Juicing every turn without proper healing (or with bad healing rolls) can make Lukas susceptible to assassination. On the other hand his healing package can be somewhat expensive just to use him to his full potential.
  
• Arcane Void and the like can effectively shut him down.

Tricks & Tips

• Zap with Disintegration for a 2 point ARM debuff.
• Force Hammer knocks enemies over - perfect for an assassination.
• Lukas can be primarily an assassination caster or a buff caster with some excellent buffs for his army.
• Bring healing (Mosby with Lynus & Edrea, Wretches) or else he will be severely hamstrung very early.
• He has a damage buff (Disintegration) which is rare in the faction outside of feats. He can get -6 ARM swings against enemy models every turn with Ragman or Hermit of Hengehold.

List Building Advice

Strategy

His main methods of winning are either spell assassination or attrition.

For spell assassination you need two Liberators and Lynus & Edrea with Dr. Morely (for healing Lukas) - 29 pts package. Stack Juice tokens and go to town with 17 focus (Turn 3) or 20 focus (Turn 4). Use Force Hammer and follow with Disintegrations, it's hard to resist since Liberators can channel while engaged.

His attrition plan doesn't have to use Lynus & Edrea but should still have Dr. Morely. This plan counts on a cloud wall delivering Lukas' army.

Theme thoughts - Crucible Guard

Prima Materia is the natural home for Lukas as PM is a 'jack theme, and Lukas and his jacks will positively swim in focus thanks to Juicer, his feat and Cutting Edge. Also double Death Archons are amazing with any TK caster and you can only take one in Magnum Opus.

Theme thoughts - Infernals

Surprise! Lukas di Morray can be taken as an Infernal Warcaster in the Hearts of Darkness theme. This theme offers Lukas access to a number of powerful abilities not native to Crucible Guard, most importantly Accumulator: Soulless, Tactician, and the Infernal Gate's various powers. Notable Guard models for Lukas remain pretty much the same (Alyce, Failed Experiments, Mentalists, a Vindicator, Liberators, but sadly no Railesses).

As such it is often better to think of Bad Guy Lukas as Guard Lukas who has traded his Battle Engines and Archons for access to Infernal solos, Croe's & the Gate. While the options are quite different, the general goal should remain the same; double down on Lukas' potent spell assassination with long range firepower and support-clearing models. Umbral Guardians are a straight upgrade (in terms of points efficiency) over Vanguards, and have the additional function of being Soulless models which can trigger Accumulator.

Croe's Cutthroats are a big fan of Telekinesis to enable their Backstab ability. They also come packed with souls for the gate.

You'll typically want to avoid the non-Experiments Crucible Guard troops, as they take up precious slots and don't benefit from any specific synergies in Infernals. This of course is with the exception of the Gate, as it can gain the souls of any troops you bring. As such an Infernal Gate + Croes may pan out to be a powerful area denial block, especially once layered with the other kinds of Infernal support. Valin Hauke makes the Experimets (and Lukas himself) immune to stationary and knock down, which is amazing.

Another model of note is the Wretch, and the spell that it provides in That Which Does Not Kill You which may look hard to apply at speed 6 and CMD 8, but with Tactician and careful planning with your support, you can get them in good positions to heal up not only Lukas, but a Liberator that may have burned out their Arc Node. Further synergies include Orin2 with his ability to grant Lukas re-rolls, and Hermit who can either give a further arm debuff, or telemetry to make him effectively FOCUS 10 for slinging spells.

Army

Basically every Lukas Crucible Guard list should start in Prima Materia with 2-3 Liberators, Alyce, two Death Archons, and 2 Ascendant Mentalists.

Warjacks

• Liberator: A spellslinger loves himself some arc-nodes, preferably 2. Ashen Veil and Burning Ash also stack for effectively DEF 17.
• Vindicator: You'll want a quality attack to hit a Disintegrated target with. This machine's gun fits the bill. It also packs a secondary ARM debuff in Withering Humour.
• Vulcan: If you manage to knock down a caster, the Vulcan will likely kill it, but that's about it with the synergies.

Units

• Failed Experiments - The best Iron Flesh targets because they are tough thanks to Iron Flesh, but unlike Storm or Assault Troopers they can also be fast, which is relevant for him as he no longer has Mirage. With the Clouds and all the ARM buffs in your list you will have a very bricky list with them at the centre.

Solos

• Aurum Legate Alyce Marc: A quintessential model for the Crucible Guard already, even more so with her husband thanks to his Healthcare rule. With or without Juicer, a Caster with only 5 focus is going to appreciate more focus efficiency. Note also that Alyce can always be taken with Lukas thanks to his Irregulars rule (this is highly relevant for Hearts of Darkness).
• Ascendant Mentalist - Force Aura stack well with Iron Flesh and she is generally sucha good toolbox solo who loves TK.
• Trancers - Trancers are CGs auto-include models because they keep your lists in scenario. As Lukas's lists generally tend to be low in model count their importance increases accordingly.

Battle Engines

• Railless Interceptor - They are just excellent models with lots of attacks. The casual +4 ARM from Mentalists and Archons also helps as they cannot be screened by clouds (but rather sreen his army with their huge bases). With Bulldoze they really help with threat ranges, which is amazing. Oh and you can also TK them around.

Mercenaries

• Death Archon - Mortal Fear is the perfect addition to Iron Flesh and Force Aura and they need the protection from his clouds. TK pushes their threat ranges to silly levels and they love to collect his dead Experimets.

Trivia

• First mentioned in the "Aftershock (Acts of War #2)" book. (2017.07)
• Released 2018.06
• He is Alyce's husband.

Other Crucible Guard models

Crucible Guard Index       (Edit)
Battlegroup & Similar
Warcasters	Benett - Gearhart - Locke - Lukas - Mackay - Syvestro
Warcaster attachments	Aurum Legate Alyce Marc (Crucible) - Sylys Wyshnalyrr (Mercenary) - Madelyn Corbeau (Mercenary)
Other Warjack Controllers	Prospero (BGC)
Light	Liberator - Retaliator - Vanguard
Heavy	Suppresor - Toro - Vindicator
Colossal	Vulcan
Units, Solos, Battle Engines, & Structures
Units	Combat Alchemists - CG Assault Troopers - CG Infantry - CG Rocketmen - CG Storm Troopers - Dragon's Breath Rocket - Failed Experiments Ranking Officer : Doctor Alejandro Mosby
Solos	Ascendant Mentalist - CG Mechanik - Gorman1 - Gorman2 - Hutchuk, Ogrun Bounty Hunter - Prospero - Rocketman Ace - Trancer
Battle Engines	Railless Interceptor
Theme Forces
Magnum Opus - Prima Materia
Mercenaries
Refer to Who Works for Whom and/or Category: Crucible Guard Mercenary
This index was last updated: 2021.05

Video Battle Reports

• 2018.11 Arcane Assist 75 points vs Rasheth
• See also Category: Video Battle Reports for more casters with videos.

Rules Clarifications

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 : Detox - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Health Care - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Juicer - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Rapid Healing      (Edit) A warlock with Rapid Healing can transfer damage to a warbeast, then still trigger Rapid Healing because they're still considered to have been damaged.

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 : Exothermic Reaction      (Edit) 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: 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) It is a damage roll from a model so: it can be boosted. (Infernal Rulings) ... unless the rule specifically says it can't, like a Scrap Thrall explosion or Lightning Generator. it will gain benefits that worded "this model gains ... on damage rolls" (such as Prey). (Infernal Ruling) warbeasts with a Crippled Body will roll one less die. (Infernal Ruling) 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. Rules Clarification : Fire      (Edit) If you deploy in fire hazard terrain (Burning Earth), then you get set on fire before the game starts. Deploying a model in a hazard counts as being "put into play" in the hazard. Being put into play counts as "entering". When you enter a hazard, you trigger the hazard. Moving into "Shallow water" standard terrain does not cause continuous fire to expire. It's magic fire. You can always use non-standard terrain if you agree with your opponent before the game starts, however. A weapon can inflict continuous fire without itself being a fire damage weapon (for example, the Helios's fists). In this case, the attack can hurt models with Immunity:Fire it just won't apply the continuous effect. In terms of which player's clock is running down during the Maintenance Phase: The active player will roll for expiration of all the continuous effects. Then the inactive player will roll for all the damages of the continuous effects. (Judge Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Burning Ash - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Disintegration - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Force Hammer and/or Thunder Strike     (Edit) An Incorporeal model will be damaged by this spell, but not slammed. The slam distance for the spell is not halved vs larger models - that only applies to a Slam Power Attack. See also the rules clarifications on slamming.

Rules Clarification : Iron Flesh      (Edit) Rules Clarification : Blast Resistance - None yet. (Edit)

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.