Difference between revisions of "Lord Kozlov, Viscount of Scarsgrad"
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= Thoughts on Lord Kozlov= | = Thoughts on Lord Kozlov= | ||
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===Lord Kozlov in a nutshell=== | ===Lord Kozlov in a nutshell=== | ||
Kozlov is the Mk3 "battlebox caster" for Khador. As such he is designed to be relatively simple to learn and straightforward to use. If you're learning the game, it is best to use him vs one of the [[Battlebox Caster|other battlebox casters]] because they're all designed to be roughly equal. In addition, he and several other battle box casters got a few new tricks with the November 2020 update, adding new options to his toolbox and bringing up his overall power level. | Kozlov is the Mk3 "battlebox caster" for Khador. As such he is designed to be relatively simple to learn and straightforward to use. If you're learning the game, it is best to use him vs one of the [[Battlebox Caster|other battlebox casters]] because they're all designed to be roughly equal. In addition, he and several other battle box casters got a few new tricks with the November 2020 update, adding new options to his toolbox and bringing up his overall power level. | ||
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===Feat Thoughts=== | ===Feat Thoughts=== | ||
− | The first part of his feat is a "pulse" whereas the second part is an "aura" (see [[Pulse vs Aura]]). It's a good habit to use tokens to show who is affected by the first part of the feat | + | The extra speed is always great, allowing you to extend your charge ranges or send running models very far to jam up the enemy. How relevant the extra 2 ARM is depends entirely on your arm composition: On Doom Reavers it doesn't matter at all, on models like Iron Fang Pikemen, Men-o-War or jacks it can matter a whole lot (for jacks in particular, it's one of the few ARM buffs in faction). The extra damage die on charges can be incredible, allowing you to get up to ludicrous amounts of damage with some units. Unfortunately, few opponents are nice enough to walk into threat range and offer up their whole army for destruction. Don't be afraid to use the feat just for its SPD/ARM buff if it puts you in a good position. |
+ | |||
+ | Note that the first part of his feat is a "pulse" whereas the second part is an "aura" (see [[Pulse vs Aura]]). It's a good habit to use tokens to show who is affected by the first part of the feat. | ||
For models with [[Countercharge]]: | For models with [[Countercharge]]: | ||
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===Spell Thoughts=== | ===Spell Thoughts=== | ||
− | * Fury and Tactical Supremacy can be spell cycled to affect two units in a turn. You do this by putting it on a unit the turn before, upkeeping the spell and using that unit first, before activating Kozlov and then putting the spell on a different unit | + | Kozlov has 3 powerful upkeeps that he'll probably want up all of the time. As such, he can be pretty Focus starved, especially if he lacks a free upkeep from a model like the [[Greylord Adjunct]] or [[Sylys]]. |
− | + | ||
− | * A warcaster is always a member of his own battlegroup; thus, Chosen Ground affects you too. When this spell is up, Kozlov gets get Pathfinder, | + | * The more attacks a model/unit can land, the more powerful Fury is. Use it to make large units like [[Iron Fang Pikemen]] punch way above their weight class. |
+ | * The slower the base speed of the model/unit, the more powerful Tactical Supremacy is. Using it to get a jack or a unit like [[Man-o-War Shocktroopers]] up the board quickly is ideal. | ||
+ | * Though they are often applied to units, also don't be afraid to put Fury or Tactical Supremacy on a warjack, for more damage or mobility, respectively. | ||
+ | * Fury and Tactical Supremacy can be spell cycled to affect two models/units in a turn. You do this by putting it on a unit the turn before, upkeeping the spell and using that unit first, before activating Kozlov and then putting the spell on a different unit. | ||
+ | * A warcaster is always a member of his own battlegroup; thus, Chosen Ground affects you too. When this spell is up, Kozlov gets get Pathfinder, can't be knocked down (preventing many assassination attempts entirely) and as such can keep making repeated Tough checks (though the game is probably going awry if you had to roll Tough for your warcaster). You should always have it up unless a plan requires you to put one of your other upkeeps on yourself. | ||
+ | * The out-of-activation attacks caused by Jackhammer can solve all sorts of problems. Use it before the jack activates to clear a jamming model, or after a jack has activated and ran to get the extra few inches of range you need. Make sure a warrior model is threatening whatever you're hitting with Jackhammer, so that the jack gets the bonuses from your Field Marshal! | ||
+ | * Razor Wind is a good last resort, or a handy way to clear enemy Incorporeal models. | ||
+ | * Unless you have a specific plan, Avalanche is usually a trap. It's way too expensive for what it does, and the crit effect is not reliable, even with a boost. | ||
===Battlebox Fights=== | ===Battlebox Fights=== | ||
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* He has a 13" threat range on a charge, when you use your feat - rising to 15" with Side Step. Note that additional attacks won't grant you further 2" moves. | * He has a 13" threat range on a charge, when you use your feat - rising to 15" with Side Step. Note that additional attacks won't grant you further 2" moves. | ||
* Precision Strike allows you to target important systems/aspects - and with weapon master attacks you have pretty good chances of causing significant damage. Usually, you want to go for the Spirit on Warbeasts (counters Forcing), and arc nodes (no spell channeling) or cortices on Warjacks (no power up FOCUS, and no allocating). Going for jack weapons can also be a good idea, as crippling a [[Revenger]]'s left arm will cancel its Shield advantage too, dropping its overall ARM protection. | * Precision Strike allows you to target important systems/aspects - and with weapon master attacks you have pretty good chances of causing significant damage. Usually, you want to go for the Spirit on Warbeasts (counters Forcing), and arc nodes (no spell channeling) or cortices on Warjacks (no power up FOCUS, and no allocating). Going for jack weapons can also be a good idea, as crippling a [[Revenger]]'s left arm will cancel its Shield advantage too, dropping its overall ARM protection. | ||
− | + | * Want to deliver a SPD4 jack to 10" without feat or charge? Cast Tactical Supremacy on it, then Trample forward (4+3"). It will not end your activation, and allows you to use the 3" reposition. This trick will get your SPD4 warjack 2" farther than running. If you upkept the spell from the turn before, you can then activate Kozlov and cast Jackhammer to destroy whatever you're now in range of! | |
+ | * For an unexpected assassination: 1) run a jack like the [[Kodiak]] through a forest to within range of their caster, 2) charge something near their caster with Kozlov, 3) Side-step to within melee range of the enemy caster, 4) cast Jackhammer on the Kodiak to grant Gang Fighter attacks. If both Kozlov and a jack can get into an enemy, it can often be better to repeatedly Jackhammer with the jack then to buy attacks with your own weapon. | ||
=List Building Advice= | =List Building Advice= |
Revision as of 21:51, 27 February 2021
Lord Kozlov, Viscount of Scarsgrad |
Kozlov is a man at home in the harsh northern reaches of Khador, a landscape dominated by ice and snow. His family has a long history of service to the Iron Fangs, and Kozlov himself underwent the demanding training regimen of that distinguished fighting tradition. His warcaster talent and combat prowess make him a great asset to the Khadoran military, but his heart remains with the people of his ancestral home. Walking the line between his obligations to the Khadoran Army and his duties as a noble is difficult, but Kozlov’s loyalty to the Motherland is unquestionable.
Basic Info
Kozlov1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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: Onrush
- Friendly Faction models currently in Kozlov’s control range gain +2 SPD and ARM.
- Additionally, friendly Faction models activating in Kozlov’s control range gain an additional die on charge attack damage rolls.
Onrush lasts for one round.
Abilities
- Tough
- Gang Fighter - When making a melee attack targeting an enemy model in the melee range of another friendly Faction warrior model, this model gains +2 to melee attack and melee damage rolls.
- Field Marshal [Gang Fighter] - Warbeasts/warjacks in this model's battlegroup gain Gang Fighter.
- Precision Strike - When this model damages a warjack or warbeast with a melee attack, choose which column or branch suffers the damage.
- Side Step - When this model hits an enemy model with an initial melee attack or a melee special attack, it can advance up to 2" after the attack is resolved.
Weapons
Great Axe | ||||||||||||||
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RNG | POW | P+S | ||||||||||||
2 | 5 | 12 | ||||||||||||
Spells
COST | RNG | AOE | POW | DUR | OFF | ||
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Avalanche
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3 | 8 | 4 | 14 | (★) | Yes | |
On a critical hit, models hit become knocked down. | |||||||
Chosen Ground
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2 | SELF | CTRL | - | Upkeep | No | |
While in the spellcaster's control range, models in its battlegroup gain Pathfinder and Steady.
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Fury
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2 | 6 | - | - | Upkeep | No | |
Target friendly Faction model/unit gains +3 to melee damage rolls but suffers -1 DEF. | |||||||
Jackhammer
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1 | 6 | - | - | - | No | |
Target model in the spellcaster's battlegroup immediately makes one basic melee attack. | |||||||
Razor Wind
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2 | 10 | - | 12 | - | Yes | |
This spell has zero special effects. | |||||||
Tactical Supremacy
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2 | 6 | - | - | Upkeep | No | |
Target friendly Faction model/unit gains Reposition [3"].
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Theme Forces
- Armored Korps
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Flame in the Darkness - Jaws of the Wolf
- Legion of Steel
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Warriors of the Old Faith - Winter Guard Kommand. In this theme the caster gains Sacrificial Pawn [Winter Guard trooper model].
- Wolves of Winter
Recent Changes
2020.11
- Feat slightly changed (used to give only +2 SPD and Unyielding)
- Gained Gang Fighter
- Gained Field Marshal [Gang Fighter]
- Gained Jackhammer spell
Thoughts on Lord Kozlov
Lord Kozlov in a nutshell
Kozlov is the Mk3 "battlebox caster" for Khador. As such he is designed to be relatively simple to learn and straightforward to use. If you're learning the game, it is best to use him vs one of the other battlebox casters because they're all designed to be roughly equal. In addition, he and several other battle box casters got a few new tricks with the November 2020 update, adding new options to his toolbox and bringing up his overall power level.
Lord Kozlov is primarily a support leader. His abilities and spells are a nice mixture from Khador's characteristic warcasters:
- He has great personal combat abilities and strong damage buffs from his spells and Feat like Butcher1.
- He fixes battlegroup mobility issues, pretty much like Harkevich
- He has great infantry support in his arsenal, just like Irusk1.
- He has a powerful Field Marshal ability that rewards a "combined arms" approach, not unlike Sorscha3.
This versatility is his downfall too; though he's a great caster to start learning with, many lists call for a more focused caster, as he is truly a master of no one thing.
Feat Thoughts
The extra speed is always great, allowing you to extend your charge ranges or send running models very far to jam up the enemy. How relevant the extra 2 ARM is depends entirely on your arm composition: On Doom Reavers it doesn't matter at all, on models like Iron Fang Pikemen, Men-o-War or jacks it can matter a whole lot (for jacks in particular, it's one of the few ARM buffs in faction). The extra damage die on charges can be incredible, allowing you to get up to ludicrous amounts of damage with some units. Unfortunately, few opponents are nice enough to walk into threat range and offer up their whole army for destruction. Don't be afraid to use the feat just for its SPD/ARM buff if it puts you in a good position.
Note that the first part of his feat is a "pulse" whereas the second part is an "aura" (see Pulse vs Aura). It's a good habit to use tokens to show who is affected by the first part of the feat.
For models with Countercharge:
- Countercharge always counts as "out of activation" (even if you somehow trigger it during your own activation).
- Even though the feat lasts a round, it doesn't affect out-of-activation charge attacks (it will be errata'd to reflect this).
Spell Thoughts
Kozlov has 3 powerful upkeeps that he'll probably want up all of the time. As such, he can be pretty Focus starved, especially if he lacks a free upkeep from a model like the Greylord Adjunct or Sylys.
- The more attacks a model/unit can land, the more powerful Fury is. Use it to make large units like Iron Fang Pikemen punch way above their weight class.
- The slower the base speed of the model/unit, the more powerful Tactical Supremacy is. Using it to get a jack or a unit like Man-o-War Shocktroopers up the board quickly is ideal.
- Though they are often applied to units, also don't be afraid to put Fury or Tactical Supremacy on a warjack, for more damage or mobility, respectively.
- Fury and Tactical Supremacy can be spell cycled to affect two models/units in a turn. You do this by putting it on a unit the turn before, upkeeping the spell and using that unit first, before activating Kozlov and then putting the spell on a different unit.
- A warcaster is always a member of his own battlegroup; thus, Chosen Ground affects you too. When this spell is up, Kozlov gets get Pathfinder, can't be knocked down (preventing many assassination attempts entirely) and as such can keep making repeated Tough checks (though the game is probably going awry if you had to roll Tough for your warcaster). You should always have it up unless a plan requires you to put one of your other upkeeps on yourself.
- The out-of-activation attacks caused by Jackhammer can solve all sorts of problems. Use it before the jack activates to clear a jamming model, or after a jack has activated and ran to get the extra few inches of range you need. Make sure a warrior model is threatening whatever you're hitting with Jackhammer, so that the jack gets the bonuses from your Field Marshal!
- Razor Wind is a good last resort, or a handy way to clear enemy Incorporeal models.
- Unless you have a specific plan, Avalanche is usually a trap. It's way too expensive for what it does, and the crit effect is not reliable, even with a boost.
Battlebox Fights
When you play battlebox games, Kozlov usually wins by out-threatening the enemy with his feat and Chosen Ground.
- Juggernaut - Your beatstick. Other battlebox heavies can rarely match its raw damage output, and its MAT will enable you good chances of hitting the enemy's heavy hitters. If Critical Freeze triggers, and the target is still alive, you can safely assume that the end-game is near. The Juggernaut will remain a trusty workhorse of any Khador battlegroup in your coming battles with other casters too.
- Decimator - This jack will teach you to proper focus management, when and how much to allocate to achieve best result. POW 15 is pretty great on your gun, and able to blast out chunks even from a Khador Heavy, or severely damage lighter jacks. Don't forget, the pushing from Beat Back is optional - if you plan to charge in with the rest of your force, you don't have to push your target away. Sustained Attack also serves you well if you need to get up close and personal with your target.
Drawbacks & Downsides
- Tricks denying run and/or charge (Polarity Shield and the like) will put you into disadvantage.
- With all your support duty you can easily run low on FOCUS. Beware Eiryss.
- Casters with Lamentation can be crippling to play into
Tricks & Tips
- He has a 13" threat range on a charge, when you use your feat - rising to 15" with Side Step. Note that additional attacks won't grant you further 2" moves.
- Precision Strike allows you to target important systems/aspects - and with weapon master attacks you have pretty good chances of causing significant damage. Usually, you want to go for the Spirit on Warbeasts (counters Forcing), and arc nodes (no spell channeling) or cortices on Warjacks (no power up FOCUS, and no allocating). Going for jack weapons can also be a good idea, as crippling a Revenger's left arm will cancel its Shield advantage too, dropping its overall ARM protection.
- Want to deliver a SPD4 jack to 10" without feat or charge? Cast Tactical Supremacy on it, then Trample forward (4+3"). It will not end your activation, and allows you to use the 3" reposition. This trick will get your SPD4 warjack 2" farther than running. If you upkept the spell from the turn before, you can then activate Kozlov and cast Jackhammer to destroy whatever you're now in range of!
- For an unexpected assassination: 1) run a jack like the Kodiak through a forest to within range of their caster, 2) charge something near their caster with Kozlov, 3) Side-step to within melee range of the enemy caster, 4) cast Jackhammer on the Kodiak to grant Gang Fighter attacks. If both Kozlov and a jack can get into an enemy, it can often be better to repeatedly Jackhammer with the jack then to buy attacks with your own weapon.
List Building Advice
Strategy
Once you move beyond the battlebox fights discussed above, you will pop your feat up to the end of your second turn, as enemy forces will close in on each other usually too fast to allow further delay. Assassinations rarely happen at that stage of the game (unless your opponent did some fatal mistake), but an alpha strike, and the resulting Unyielding bonus gives you edge in the following meat grinder.
Kozlov can support a wide variety of units, with his speed buffs and damage increase. Whichever theme force you prefer, he can handle it.
Theme Thoughts
He doesn't do a whole lot for Winter Guard. He fixes their damage somewhat and makes them faster, but Unyielding is a poor benefit for 12/13 troops. Going first and dropping your feat in the 1st turn puts severe pressure on the enemy. With the right number of units it allows you to move far up the table.
Jaws of the Wolf
You are doubling up on the Pathfinder with Chosen Ground, but also get a nice forest for your jacks to hide behind. You are a bit light on Gang fighter triggers, but with Kayazy and solos you should be able to make it work.
- Khador 'jacks like to go faster and with Sorcha0 thrown into the mix you can threat ranges of 12-13" which is very respectable.
- Behemoth with Gang Fighter and Fury on it's fists will annihilate just about anything it touches. Alternatively you can also jack marshal him on a Greylord Forge Seer for the Crush! order (given you manage to give Behemoth a free charge).
- Kayazy Eliminators - You can two units for free in this theme, which is one of the main draws of the theme.
- Kayazy Assassins - Their main issues are speed and damage and Kozlov fixes both with his feat and either TacSup or Fury. They are also the only 10 man unit in this theme for easy Gang Fighters.
- Widowmaker Scouts - They love TacSup on top of Swift Hunter which they will get from the Widowmaker Marksman.
Kozlov buffs their hitting power as well as their mobility.
- IFP's with Tactical Supremacy on them can walk up 9" and still be in Shield Wall and don't have to use up their mini feat. on feat turn they can walk 8", repo 5" with the minfeat and will be ARM 20 in shield wall. Or you can use the feta to up their damage. P+S 13 with four damage dice on the charge and precision strike makes them pretty good against jacks and warbeasts.
- Black Dragons - The lack the mini feat of the standard Iron Fang, so they will appreciate TacSup much more. With his feat and their min-feat they can reach ARM 23.
- Iron Fang Uhlans - The are multiwound models by the virtue of being cavalry. They can reach ARM 21 on feat turn and as cav they get boosted charge attack rolls on top of the extra damage die from the feat.
- Despite being one of the Iron Fangs in the fluff, he is not an Iron Fang model as per the game rules, so the buffs from the various IF characters won't apply on him.
Frankly his best theme. Which is ironic given he's an Iron Fang in the fluff. Men-o-War love everything he does. Extra speed is grea on SPD 4 models and can be stacked with Desperate Pace from a Man-o-War Kovnik, and the +2 ARM is best used on troops with multiple boxes.
- Man-O-War Shock Troopers - They love TacSup so they can advance, form a Shield Wall, then Repo.
- Man-o-War Demolition Corps - Fury lets them do meaningful damage at P+S 19.
- Doomreaver Swordsmen - With feat and apparition they threaten 15", they already hit like the truck even without the feat and they are 2" reach Gang Fighter triggers.
- Koldun Lord - They let you double up on the damage buffs or provide hit fixing
- Greylord Ternion - Hit fixing or recursion for your Doomies.
- Butcher4 with the feat is going places and hits like a freight train on the charge.
Faction Support Models
- Greylord Adjunct with 3 upkeeps getting 1 for free allows for safer spell cycling increasing the range of the cast is less useful but always helpful and blizzard protects the adjunct as always.
- Battle Mechanics Tactical Supremacy is useful for them to keep up with the main force if they need to repair models on the approach.
- Sorscha0 - although her warjack will not gain pathfinder or steady she increases Kozlov’s impressive threat range on feat turn.
- Greylord Forge Seer - because he will likely be paying 3 focus a turn just to upkeep his spells and ideally another 2 to cycle 1 of them he has very little left to both survive an assassination and to fuel his jacks. Empower fixes this issue and the seers can always charge in on feat turn.
- Kayazy Eliminators - They can go pretty much anywhere they want and thus are wonderful enabler of Gang Fighter. Fury + Feat and two charging Combo Strikes would do, on average, 28 damage to an Ironclad however, to they can outright kill a heavy on feat turn, too.
Mercenaries
- Ragman and Aiyana and Holt with Valachev provide ever so useful damage buffs
- Saxon Orrik is pathfinder on a stick.
- Orin Midwinter provides protection against magic. This is especially useful if you run a Colossal, which is a big and debuff-able target.
- Eilish for limited upkeep stripping and Puppy Master.
- Ogrun Bokur: A Shield Guard is never bad.
- Alexia Ciannor & the Risen Kozlov supports infantry pretty well and dead infantry is exactly what Alexia wants. There's also an intersting interaction with upkeeps and Valchev. If you move Alexia out of Valachev's command range, the unit loses spellward and Kozlov can put an upkeep on them. Just make sure to put Alexia back into formation afterwards (or just kill Valachev) and go to town with Fury-d Risen!
Battlegroup
His field marshal, feat and spell list place him squarely in the combined arms pigeonhole of casters. Gang Fighter is a very nice buff on any jacks, fixing both their MAT and damage. As such he will want quite a few of them, but not too many, since he is still a FOCUS 6 caster.
- Marauder - It's the cheapest jack in the arsenal that does not have a chance to blow up trying to do its job. MAT 9, P+S 18 pistons are a thing of beauty, especially with the extra charge die, and they are cheap enough so you can just run three and be a major threat to any huge bases especially.
- Juggernaut - That's a P+S 21 ice axe coming at you. P+S 17 on the fist isn't at all bad either. If you really, really want something dead put, Fury on it and just watch it evaporate.
- Kodiak - Tac Sup lets it back up after venting and hide behind the cloudwall. It also loves having P+S 18 fists with its 3 initials.
- Devastator - Gang Fighter lets it reach the standard heavy warjack offensive statline of P+S 18. With Jackhammer you can let it attack multiple times and then still close up again on its activation.
- Rager - Gang Fighter works with point blank, shield guard will help deliver the infantry Kozlov now needs. Despite the risk of exploding on feat turn a Rager with Gang Fighter can still reliably trade vs other more expensive heavies and still likely kill them. Jackhammer also circumvents unstable to a degree, since it lets you use Kozlov's focus points to buy attacks.
First Seven Purchases
A few veteran players have put their heads together and tried to figure out the seven best things to buy for this specific caster. This is not designed to add up to a nice round points limit, nor be balanced vs other "First Seven" lists you find on this website. It is simply going to give you some of the essentials this caster needs most of the time.
- Battlebox: Decimator, Juggernaut
- Warjack: Kodiak
- Warjack: Marauder
- Warjack: Marauder
- Solo: Man-O-War Kovnik
- Solo: Man-O-War Strike Tanker
- Solo: Man-O-War Suppression Tanker
- Unit: Man-O-War Shocktroopers + CA
Following this buying will put you firmly in the Armored Corps theme.
Other
Trivia
- Lord Kozlov, Viscount of Scarsgrad is the battlebox caster for Khador
- Originally released in Prime Mk3 (2016)
Other Khador models
Video Battle Reports
- 2018.06 Feat Fetish 75 points vs Caine2
- See also Category: Video Battle Reports for more casters with videos.
Rules Clarifications
Rules Clarification : Feat : Onrush
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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 : Weapon Master - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification: : Warcaster (Edit) | |||||
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Rules Clarification : Tough - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Gang and/or Gang Fighter and/or Tag Team and/or Team Effort (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Field Marshal (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Marksman and/or Precision Strike (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Side Step (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Unyielding - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Chosen Ground (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Fury - None yet. (Edit)
Rules Clarification : Jackhammer (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Razor Wind (Edit)
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Rules Clarification : Tactical Supremacy (Edit)
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