Kallus, Devastation of Everblight
The pattern for Kallus’ mind and body are indelibly imprinted upon his athanc shard, ensuring his restoration no matter what he undergoes. This was proven when Kallus endured the one act that could truly destroy him: being consumed by a dragon. What should have ended his existence instead made him evolve into something stronger. Kallus now butchers enemies with tooth and claw in a draconic form reminiscent of Everblight’s own.
Basic Info
Kallus2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Abilities
- Warlock - All warlocks 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.
- Field Marshal [Hand of the Dragon] - Warbeasts/warjacks in this model's battlegroup gain Continuous Fire on their melee weapons
- Cavalry
- Pathfinder
- Soulless
- Hyper-Regeneration - Remove d3 damage points from this model at the start of each of its activations.
- Error: Use {{Reposition 3}} or {{Reposition 5}} instead.
Weapons
- Hellbrand - 2" reach, P+S 15 melee weapon.
- Damage Type: Magical
- Flame Burst - When this model boxes an enemy model with this weapon, enemy models within 1" of the boxed model suffer the Fire continuous effect.
- Mount - 0.5" reach, POW 14 mount attack.
- Critical Knockdown - On a critical hit, the model hit becomes knocked down.
Spells
- |-
|colspan=7 style="text-align:left; font-size:110%; border-right: 1px solid #fff; border-left: 1px solid #fff;"| |colspan=1 style="text-align:left; font-size:110%; border-right: 1px solid #fff; border-left: 1px solid #fff; border-bottom: 1px solid #fff;"| |- |style="text-align:left; font-size:110%; border-bottom: 1px solid #fff; border-left: 1px solid #fff;" rowspan=1| Overrun ! style="border-top: 1px solid #A8A8A8;"| 2
! 6
! -
! -
! Turn
! No
|style="border-bottom: 1px solid #fff; border-right: 1px solid #fff; border-left: 1px solid #fff; border-top: 1px solid #fff;"| |- |colspan=8 style="text-align:left; border-bottom: 1px solid #fff; border-right: 1px solid #fff; border-left: 1px solid #fff; border-top: 1px solid #fff;"|When target model in the spellcaster's battlegroup destroys one or more enemy models with an attack during its Combat Action, immediately after the attack is resolved one model in the spellcaster's battlegroup that is in its control range can make a full advance, then Overrun expires. A model can advance only once per turn as a result of Overrun. Overrun lasts for one turn.
- |-
|colspan=7 style="text-align:left; font-size:110%; border-right: 1px solid #fff; border-left: 1px solid #fff;"| |colspan=1 style="text-align:left; font-size:110%; border-right: 1px solid #fff; border-left: 1px solid #fff; border-bottom: 1px solid #fff;"| |- |style="text-align:left; font-size:110%; border-bottom: 1px solid #fff; border-left: 1px solid #fff;" rowspan=1| Battle Lust ! style="border-top: 1px solid #A8A8A8;"| 3
! 6
! -
! -
! Turn
! No
|style="border-bottom: 1px solid #fff; border-right: 1px solid #fff; border-left: 1px solid #fff; border-top: 1px solid #fff;"| |- |colspan=8 style="text-align:left; border-bottom: 1px solid #fff; border-right: 1px solid #fff; border-left: 1px solid #fff; border-top: 1px solid #fff;"|Target friendly Faction warrior model/unit gains an additional die on melee damage rolls. Battle Lust lasts for one turn.
- |-
|colspan=7 style="text-align:left; font-size:110%; border-right: 1px solid #fff; border-left: 1px solid #fff;"| |colspan=1 style="text-align:left; font-size:110%; border-right: 1px solid #fff; border-left: 1px solid #fff; border-bottom: 1px solid #fff;"| |- |style="text-align:left; font-size:110%; border-bottom: 1px solid #fff; border-left: 1px solid #fff;" rowspan=1| Blazing Path ! style="border-top: 1px solid #A8A8A8;"| 2
! SELF
! Control
! -
! Upkeep
! No
|style="border-bottom: 1px solid #fff; border-right: 1px solid #fff; border-left: 1px solid #fff; border-top: 1px solid #fff;"| |- |colspan=8 style="text-align:left; border-bottom: 1px solid #fff; border-right: 1px solid #fff; border-left: 1px solid #fff; border-top: 1px solid #fff;"|(1) While in the spellcaster's control range, friendly Faction models gain Immunity: Fire. (2) An enemy model that ends its activation within 2" of a friendly Faction model in the spellcaster's control range suffers the Fire continuous effect.
- |-
|colspan=7 style="text-align:left; font-size:110%; border-right: 1px solid #fff; border-left: 1px solid #fff;"| |colspan=1 style="text-align:left; font-size:110%; border-right: 1px solid #fff; border-left: 1px solid #fff; border-bottom: 1px solid #fff;"| |- |style="text-align:left; font-size:110%; border-bottom: 1px solid #fff; border-left: 1px solid #fff;" rowspan=1| Brand of Fire ! style="border-top: 1px solid #A8A8A8;"| 3
! 10
! -
! 14 (Fire)
! -
! Yes
|style="border-bottom: 1px solid #fff; border-right: 1px solid #fff; border-left: 1px solid #fff; border-top: 1px solid #fff;"| |- |colspan=8 style="text-align:left; border-bottom: 1px solid #fff; border-right: 1px solid #fff; border-left: 1px solid #fff; border-top: 1px solid #fff;"|Brand of Fire deals fire damage. On a hit, the target model and the d3 nearest enemy models within 5" of it suffer the Fire continuous effect.
Feat - Dragon Breath
This feat has 3 effects:
- Enemy models currently inside Kallus' control range that are currently on fire immediately suffer an unboostable POW 12 fire damage roll.
- While in Kallus's control range, friendly Faction models can charge or power attack slam an enemy that is on fire without being forced ...
- ... and they gain +3" movement when they do so.
Dragon Breath lasts one turn.
Thoughts on Kallus2
Kallus2 in a Nutshell
Do you like fire? Do you like unparalleled threat ranges? Do you like dragon centaurs? Then Kallus, Devastation of Everblight may be just the guy for you. Kallus2 is quite a bit different than his original self, both in play style and in appearance. On his own, he's fast, boasts a reasonable defensive stat line, and a decent sword, meaning he can be a scary threat himself. With access to cavalry charges/impact attacks, he can contribute to the fight. He's no Butcher though, so don't go flinging him at random stuff; it's just nice to have a warlock with the ability to contribute if the need arises.
He supports his army well with Overrun and Battle Lust, two incredibly potent spells, that allow Kallus to play a good mix of infantry and battlegroup models well. Overrun gives his battlegroup flexibility, allowing his army to play very aggressive, or opt for hit and run tactics. Battle Lust just makes your infantry hit like a freight train - either buff weaker infantry by turning them into weapon masters for a turn, or make your weapon master infantry just plain silly.
Finally, his feat gives his entire army unmatched threat ranges - there is little else in the game that can rival an Angelius charging a burning target under his feat. In fact, even the longest range Cygnar guns will need to run or have Snipe active to even hope to shoot a SPD7 flyer charging their full distance. It's a bit of a tricky feat to utilize, however, and will require the right mix of models and order of activation plus a dash of luck to fully benefit.
Kallus2 looks like an excellent caster in terms of threat, damage, and maneuverability. He will require some finesse to maximize his potential (due in part to the nature of Continuous Fire and a few of his shortcomings such as his FURY stat), but those who are able to maximize his tool kit will not be disappointed.
Abilities thoughts
There's not too much special to Kallus2's traits and abilities, they pretty much just work, but there are a few things to remember:
- Hyper Regeneration - Held over from his first version this a nice defensive tech if you take stray shots - something that is a concern with his large base. It also helps you out if you forgot to count your FURY right as he can always cut for at least one FURY ensure he heals it back.
- Field Marshal: Hand of the Dragon - This is unfortunately not that great of a Field Marshal. It seems pretty good at a glance, as it gives you guaranteed sources of Continuous Fire for the feat... until you realize that you want stuff to already be on fire so your warbeasts can get their free, +3" charges.
- If you build more exclusively for the feat, you can take some advantage of this Field Marshal. A unit or two of Blight Wasps are already fast enough on their own to get to hard targets and tag enemies with fire, letting your more expensive but slower beasts and units make the actual alpha strike.
- Cavalry - Never forget that Kallus is a Cavalry model, which means he has access to Impact Attacks, and his Charge Attack rolls are automatically boosted. Since Mount attacks are considered melee attacks, if he uses Battle Lust on himself he gains additional damage dice on any Impact Attacks he makes as well.
- This is equally true of Battle Lusted Raptors, so keep this in mind for their inclusion in a Kallus2 list as well.
Feat thoughts
This feat is probably why Ravagores lost the ability to light things on fire. There are three parts to Kallus2's feat. First, everything that's burning in his CTRL takes a POW12 fire damage roll. This is pretty neat, but each roll is unboosted, and at FURY6 he doesn't have the most impressive of control areas. The real money is the next two parts: first, everything charges and slams for free, provided their target is on fire. The target does not need to be in your CTRL for this to work - only your model. Finally, in addition to the free charge/slam, your models gain 3" of additional movement when charging/slamming. If that doesn't fill your blighted heart with glee, then reconsider your dedication to Everblight. With 3" additional movement:
- Archangels charge 13", with a 2" melee range.
- Angelius also charge 13", with 2" melee, and can be affected by Slipstream. That's a 17" threat range, just to be clear.
- The Carnivean chassis can threat 12-13" depending on melee range, with +2" if you Slipstream them (pro tip: you should). Pretty impressive for SPD5 beasts.
- Looking at infantry options:
- Grotesque Raiders hit a 13.5" threat, and synergize very well with Battle Lust.
- Swordsmen can reach targets 13" away if you can avoid any rough terrain.
- Raptors take the cake with a whopping 16" of melee threat if they charge a burning target.
Be careful with this feat - you do need to activate it early enough in the turn that you can get enough work out of it, and you also don't want to waste too many activations trying to set up a lot of fire. Striking this balance is pretty important and will be key to securing the devastating alpha strike. Additionally, your feat is 100% dead against armies with access to Fire Immunity. This includes a lot of Menoth, and most Trollblood lists (Horgle2 and anyone who brings the Krielstone CA). On the flipside, Menoth and Horgle2 will also struggle against Kallus2 due to some of his other spells.
Spell thoughts
Kallus2's spell list is pretty flexible and answers a fair few questions, but with as many useful spells as he has, he has only enough FURY to cast a couple each turn, so plan each of his activations carefully. Expect Kallus to be low on transfers at any given point after the first turn.
- Overrun - This spell is money in Legion. It can be leveraged for both offense and defense when used correctly, as both a way to increase the battlegroup's threat range and as a tool to back away after scalpeling a key target. There are a few important tricks with this spell; refer to the Rules Clarification at the bottom of the page to make sure you know all the ins and outs, as it requires a bit of finesse to use right.
- The most important aspect of Overrun is that the model that triggers the effect and the model that moves don't need to be the same model, allowing you to set up charges from extreme safety/distances.
- Kallus can move as a result of Overrun, and even trigger it himself, allowing you to set up unexpectedly long range personal assassinations, though this tactic is very fury intensive if you also want him to have Battle Lust. As always, it can also be a way to back off to safety.
- Battle Lust - This spells is the main way Kallus2 is going to increase his army's damage potential, specifically his infantry. It's an expensive spell but worth its weight in gold.
- While it's definitely tempting to turn Swordsmen into crazy murder machines, it's probably overkill. Kallus also doesn't bring much to help them survive on the way up the field. Consider cheap units like Grotesque Raiders who can capitalize more on the feat's movement bonus and are fearsome in their own right with the extra damage die.
- In the late game, Kallus can buff himself with Battle Lust, becoming a POW15 weapon master and contribute to the fight.
- Blazing Path - This is an interesting upkeep, that probably won't always be up, but may find some use with the right mix of models. The effect of this spell is very useful for enabling Kallus2's feat. The tricky part is that it's pretty easy for your opponent to bypass its effects by simply killing your models before a model is done activating.
- Legion models aren't known for their resilience, so it's definitely going to be hard to ensure enemy models end their turn with something close enough to light it on fire.
- High DEF jammers like Strider Blightblades and Scouts may be useful for trying to apply Blazing Path against enemy infantry, as they're cheap, mobile, and reasonably hard to hit for most other single wound models
- Incubi may also be a relatively cheap option to trigger this spell. Either your opponent chooses to not kill your infantry and thus triggers Blazing Path, or kills the infantry and you place an Incubus in play instead. If it was the enemy model's last attack, Blazing Path will set them on fire instead since the Incubus comes into play immediately when the friendly model is destroyed (i.e. right before the enemy's activation ends).
- Remember it grants your own models immunity to fire as well, so you can use it to easily line up Carnivean/Typhon/Zuriel sprays, Ravagore/Teraph/Blightbringer AOEs/blast damage, or even casts of Brand of Fire, effectively neutering low ARM chaff infantry the enemy may jam you with. It also allows your army to ignore effects like Cloak of Ash.
- Brand of Fire - Another very expensive spell, and probably will be cast the least unless you're really hurting for ways to light stuff on fire since it will usually be more worth it to simply cast Overrun or Battle Lust twice. That said, it may have corner case uses with a Spell Martyr when you absolutely, 100% MUST set at least two guys ablaze.
Drawbacks & Downsides
- Large Base with no active defensive tech. Kallus has the highest base ARM on a warlock in Legion, but only slightly above average DEF and his base size makes him hard to screen.
- Kallus2 is easily FURY starved. Two Battle Lusts a turn leaves him with NO transfers, and one Lust and one Overrun leaves him with only one - none if he upkeeps Blazing Path. Strongly consider a Succubus or Protector as mentioned above, or abuse terrain to the best of your ability.
- A feat that is hard countered by anything that can ignore continuous effects or fire.
- Some casters such as Horgle2
- Stone Scribe Elder
- A large portion of Protectorate of Menoth
- Himself
- Incorporeal models
- Impressive feat and spells but a little finesse is required to use them fully - Kallus2 is not necessarily a point and click or newbie friendly caster.
Tricks & Tips
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List Building Advice
Strategy
At the end of the day, Kallus2 is an armor cracking warlock. He doesn't have any hard board control,and lacks any sort of armor or defensive buff to increase his attrition and staying power directly, though Overrun can allow you to trade up in some cases when using it as a hit and run tool, which is a sort of "soft" attrition. Kallus wants, needs, and really must land a solid alpha strike, and utilizing his feat will be key in achieving that. You won't need a strong attrition presence when you rout the enemy on the first engagement.
As with most Legion lists (and really any army in the game), always be looking for the assassination as well. Utilizing another piece is always preferable, but Kallus has reasonable threat range on his own, and if the enemy exposes themselves he can do the job himself, even more so if you save his feat.
Always be mindful of his smaller CTRL range. While his Angelius may be able to charge 15" away, if you charge out of control range you'll be pretty disappointed. Instead, consider using your superior speed to keep your key beasts playing back further than they normally could, safe against other enemy charges. Sure, it can be fun to dive deep into the enemy's force and blow things up, but it may be much more valuable to carefully pre-position and use your threat ranges a little more defensively.
Kallus definitely wants a bit of mixed arms approach to list building, He needs a unit or two to cast Battle Lust on, but also a healthy battlegroup to take advantage of the incredibly potent and flexible Overrun spell. If you want to roughly double your threat ranges, or play an army with hit and run tactics like Vayl, Disciple of Everblight or casters with access to refuge, Overrun is an aggressive option to do so.
Theme Thoughts
3+ Themes
- A couple Spell Martyrs can go a long way with Kallus to ensuring you can put Battle Lust or Overrun on the necessary models, and offers the threat of a laser precision Brand of Fire if you really need it.
- In a bit of an ironic twist, Azrael feels far more at home with Kallus2 than he does with his own mother, Kryssa. Azrael and Kallus are best buddies, as he offers two reasonably accurate and very powerful shots into the enemy, both of which will set his targets on fire. On top of that, his animus has a somewhat interesting bonus effect of preventing fire from going out on the enemy's turn.
- The animus is a little less useful on Azrael himself, but may be useful with Kallus' slightly larger CMD. It won't be a synergy so good it must be used every turn, but it's not to be forgotten.
- Zuriel is also a great enabler of Kallus2's feat, with a surprisingly accurate 8" spray that can light large groups of models on fire. The trade-off does mean he won't be able to capitalize on the feat himself, but the amount of stuff he can light up may be well worth the sacrifice.
- Don't forget his Quick Work, which will let him get off two sprays a turn if you charge the right target. Make sure you're at max melee range and charge a wounded target, or a small clump of infantry, as he lacks gunfighter and must be out of melee after he kills his target to trigger the extra spray.
- If Battle Lust lasted one round, Blighted Nyss Legionnaires might actually be an auto-include with Kallus2, as their Vengeance attacks would actually threaten most other infantry. That said, even on their own activation Combined Melee Attack and Battle Lust can put some serious hurt on the enemy. With okay ARM, these guys might just live long enough to work with Blazing Path. They probably aren't going to be your first infantry choice with Kallus2, but if you're looking for a reason to field them, he does give them some game. If they ever get any buffs (or a cost reduction), this unit has some serious potential with Kallus.
- If you count the Vengeance movement a Legionnaire charging a burning enemy can threaten 16" away (nonlinear thanks to Vengeance), and if you used Battle Lust they're a POW10 weapon master with +1 for each guy you choose to CMA with.
- If you bring Farilor and he initiates a CMA, the CMA will have four dice of damage at POW10+however many guys are in the CMA. This can be pretty legitimate.
- Strongly consider Blighted Nyss Raptors with Kallus2. As noted above, if they charge a burning model they threaten enemies 16" away, and if they have Battle Lust, even their mounts gain the additional damage die, making their impact attacks very reliable (3d6+12). When they make it to their charge target, they roll boosted to hit (from Cavalry) and 5d6+10 for damage. All from 16" down the field.
- If they're already in melee, don't forget that you still can attack with your mount, and it will still get the extra die of damage from Battle Lust.
- A Succubus is probably worth it if you're banking on trying to use Blazing Path, as every point of FURY is precious to Kallus' game plan. In addition, he'll definitely appreciate the Blizzard cloud to help keep him a little safer against shooting.
- As mentioned above Grotesque Raiders are a good inclusion with Kallus2. Under Battle Lust they become MAT7 POW12 weapon masters if they're getting the Gang bonus. On top of that, they're cheaper, faster and easier to maneuver than Swordsmen (who are probably overkill as targets for the spell anyways). They bring enough bodies to even maybe catch a few enemies with Blazing Path, and die easily enough to trigger Incubi if you chose to try that strategy.
- A Grotesque Assassin will of course help keep them safe of course, and does reasonable work as a solo hunter.
- Blighted Nyss Raptors, mentioned above, can also be taken in this theme.
- What better to bring with a dragon centaur, then an army of hard hitting long threat ogrun dragontaurs, battles lust makes Chosen of Everblight already hard hitting attack hit like heavies on the charge, pow 15+4d6 charge attacks and pow 14+3d6 impact attacks can cripple most heavies quite easily if you get a couple on. also having such durable units threat a potential 15" gives you a very strong and reliable alpha, and even adds to the assassination threat of Kallus2's already formidable potential. Along with Primal Terror's character warbeast Golab most casters are going to opt to stay out of the possible 21" nonlinear threat range that overrun provides. Hide Golab behind a forest overrun into charge or walk range kill sprint out, or have golab charge something then combine overrun and sprint to be 15" away from the model you just killed. Chosen and Golab also add a very good staying presence through rapid healing and carrion feast to setup extremely difficult to handle scenario presence.
Battlegroup
- Blight Wasps are cheap and fast enough that they might be justified as throwaway models to light enemies on fire with Kallus' Field Marshal. In Ravens of War, they count towards the free solo bonus as well.
- Kallus2 can run in Ravens of War fairly well, as it runs with many things he likes.
- Like his first incarnation, Kallus2 might make some use of the Blightbringer. You want to bring a solid infantry base for Battle Lust, so they will synergize well with his STR/ARM gun effect. Additionally, his gun is fire damage, meaning it works well with your fire-immune army to land the 5" AOE exactly where you want it.
- While the Blightbringer can't move from Overrun due to his nature as a Gargantuan, he CAN trigger it and allow your other models to move. With eyeless sight and a high POW, long range AOE shot, it's not too hard to kill even a few infantry models or a stray solo to get the rest of your battlegroup moving. Bear in mind if you destroy multiple enemies from a single shot, you still only get to move one other warbeast.
- Like the Blightbringer, Ravagores can also bring a welcome artillery presence to a Kallus2 list, and can also be solid targets to enable Overrun. You can choose to move a Ravagore with it as well, effectively increasing the range of his gun by 5", allow it to benefit from the aiming bonus, or let it back off after it makes a key shot.
- Teraphs are a slightly cheaper option as long as there are flimsy enough targets for them. As a side bonus, they have Continuous Fire on critical hits. Not 100% reliable but can come in handy.
- Since he often won't be camping a lot of FURY, a Nephilim Protector can go a long way toward keeping Kallus safe against shots and even in melee, upping his survival rate greatly.
- The Archangel has critical fire on his gun, high native SPD and POW, and his animus is actually pretty good for setting stuff up for the feat. He can't benefit from Overrun but can trigger it at least.
Minions
- Croak Raiders are pretty expensive, but can light a lot of things on fire for the rest of the army.
Other
Trivia
Released 2017.02
Theme Forces
Template:Legion warlock themes
Other Legion Models
Video Battle Reports
- 2018.08 Feat Fetish 75 points vs Caine3
- 2018.03 Arcane Assist 75 points vs Zaal1
- See also Category: Video Battle Reports for more casters with videos.
Rules Clarifications
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 : Flame Burst (Edit)
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Rules Clarification: : Warlock (Edit) | |||||
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Rules Clarification : Field Marshal (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Pathfinder (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Soulless - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Hyper-Regeneration - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Reposition (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Overrun (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Battle Lust - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Blazing Path - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Brand of Fire - None yet. (Edit)