Unit Strategy Review: How to use Crixus

[Fezzikthedoor]

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Unit Strategy Review
Unit: Crixus
Author: Fezzikthedoor (with thanks to the other Strategy Guide Authors)

Crixus, also known as the “good gladiator”, is seen by many as the best of a bad lot. Of the three gladiators, Crixus, Spartacus, and Retiarius, he is the most often drafted. This makes good sense because he is the only hero in the game who is able to reduce damage from any normal or special attack to just a single point of damage if he rolls but a single shield. Still, because all the gladiators are generally regarded as being connected at the hip, he is often overlooked for other units rather than invest 380 points in all three. But Crixus’ two best friends aren’t really Spartacus and Retiarius—they’re Raelin and Kelda. If a player is going to draft either of them, it’s well worth considering Crixus as well.

First let’s take a closer look at his stats:

Analyzed Statistics
Cost - 90 - Knight Class Unit
Size - Medium – Vulnerable/Concealable
Life - 5 – Average
Move - 5 – Average
Range - 1 - Close Range
Attack - 5 – Dangerous
Defense – 3* – Below Average
*One Shield Defense – Any shields rolled will block all but one point of damage from any attack – Maximum Tactical Advantage

In-Depth Analysis

Each unit is complex, and must be well analyzed to be truly understood. For Crixus, let us begin with his cost. By cost, we refer mostly to his value in points, but also to his importance in your army. To simplify analysis, Agatagary has created several categories of cost, based off of chess, for comparison and nomenclature. For reference,

Pawn class (expendable, units that can be useful, but are not worth enormous trouble to protect)
Bishop class (more useful than a pawn, but still somewhat expendable)
Knight class (units that are interestingly powerful and can have a significant impact on the game in of themselves. It is advisable that they be kept alive, but if absolutely necessary they may be sacrificed)
Rook class (units that almost inevitably have a significant impact on the game, and whose death should be avoided as much as possible)
Queen class (devastatingly powerful or important units that should be protected at all costs)

Class:
With his dangerously high attack rating, One Shield Defense, and status as a gladiator—thus benefiting from Spartacus’ Gladiator Inspiration special ability, Crixus is surely a Knight Class Unit. If one is unconvinced of this than take this into account: with 5 points of life and the Ones Shield Defense it can take up to five successful attacks to remove him from the battlefield; in the meantime, he can cause serious havoc among enemy forces.

To examine Crixus’ core stats, we will break them up into two categories--offensive ability and survivability. We will start with his offense.

Offense:
He may only be a melee fighter with a threat range of 6 (movement plus range) but it is difficult to argue that any melee figure will want to engage Crixus in hand-to-hand combat. A base attack of 5 is considerable and can easily--and often--be increased even higher through the use of height, glyph, or various special abilities. Once engaged, Crixus is as hard to shake loose as a pit bull due to his exceptional…

Survivability:
Though his attack value is high, it is Crixus’ survivability that makes him an optimal unit to draft for one’s army. While it is true that his defense of 3 is below average and that his Medium size leaves him vulnerable to a host of powers, it is the combination of his Life of 5 and, more importantly, his One Shield Defense, that make him such a resilient unit. No matter how many attack dice are rolled against him; regardless of if the enemy is using a standard attack or a Special Attack; whether it be 2 dice or 10, Crixus has but to roll a single shield and he will take only a point of damage. Even should he miss the roll, his life of 5 will hopefully pull him through, and, should your luck hold out, he is probably the hardest hero in the game to kill without resorting to Automatic Destruction abilities. As we shall see, the key to using Crixus properly is to enhance his already impressive survivability rating.

Strategy:
Crixus will generally serve two purposes in an army, both of them quite important. The first is as a front-line champion—he will be the lone warrior you send out to confront heavy hitters like Su-Bak-Na, Alastair McDirk, or a heavily damaged Grimnak. Unlike a Deathreaver or other swarm unit, not only will Crixus tie up the foe in question, he very well might kill it! The second role he will fill is that of the (nearly) immovable object: a human roadblock.

If faced with a hero of immense attack strength Crixus should be a player’s go-to man. In a one-on-one fight, only a fool would bet against this gladiator. There are several units in addition the three listed above that have an attack rating equal to or higher than Crixus, including: Sgt. Drake Alexander, Agent Carr, Charos, Braxas, Nilfheim, and Tor-Kul-Na, not to mention his fellow gladiators. What one will notice immediately is that with the exception of Retiarius, every single one of these units costs more points to draft than he does.

Many of the units cost significantly more than he does and so should be able to dispose of him with ease. This is not the case, however. Instead, it is his amazing One Shield Defense ability that allows Crixus to stand up to some of the heaviest hitters in the game and come out on top, or, at the very least, make sure the enemy unit knows it has been in a fight! The ability, in effect, reduces the attack value of all those units to 1, provided you are able to roll a shield with Crixus. Once their overwhelming ability to cause damage has been taken out of play it becomes a battle of attrition that the gladiator is well positioned to win. Of the listed units Charos has the highest Defense at 5; most of the units have a defense of 4 or below, giving the attack advantage to Crixus. While he might have a lower life than many of the aforementioned heroes he should also be doing more damage to them. As long as you are able to continue to roll at least one shield you will eventually prevail.

One Shield Defense, unfortunately, is an all or nothing proposition and in such a contest not rolling a shield even once can spell his doom. This is an inherent risk when using Crixus as your melee champion, so it is a good idea to do all you can to maximize his chances of rolling at least one shield.

Luckily, you will have several ways to do this. The most blatantly obvious ways are to try to obtain height or glyph advantage, but this is often difficult to do with a melee unit, especially when fighting against another melee unit that will be jockeying for the same position. Instead, we should focus on drafting units that will help to enhance Crixus' Defense.

The most easily recognized candidate is Spartacus since Crixus can be affected by his Gladiator Inspiration special ability, thereby gaining a bonus of +1 to his Movement, Attack, and Defense. As is widely acknowledged, though, Spartacus’ point cost can be prohibitive in low point armies. If you wish to team these two up to take advantage of such an impressive ability look at the Strategy guide to Spartacus for more details.

Raelin is a unit that is always in high demand and can become Crixus’ best friend. It has become clichéd to say that every unit is better with Raelin behind it, but in Crixus’ case it is less a cliché and more a solid fact. By having her within 4 clear sight spaces you have almost doubled your opportunities to roll a shield on defense, thereby blocking all damage taken by the gladiator. With other units her assistance might allow the victimized unit to avoid two points of damage; with him the number is quite literally limitless. While her Rise of the Valkyrie Defensive Aura is more useful than her Swarm of the Marro Defensive Aura, any boost that you can receive will be of more help in preventing damage to Crixus than to any other unit in the game. Plus, at 40 points more, the Swarm of the Marro Raelin lets Crixus go two spaces farther away.

A second unit that can be of help to Crixus is Thorgrim. You can do this a few different ways: lead your first wave assault with the Viking Champion and keep him in harms way so that once he is killed you can place Thorgrim's Warrior Armor Spirit; keep him close to Crixus so that the latter benifits from Thorgrim's Defensive Aura (which requires adjacency); or use a combination of the two. No matter what you choose, place Thorgrim's Spirit on Crixus to make him all the more durable.

While she may not increase his Defense, the other unit that will be invaluable to the former slave is another Kyrie, Kelda. Although many would point to Sonlen as being a more valuable healer, since he can heal from a distance and still hold his own in battle, Kelda is the better choice. Unlike the elf, whose healing abilities are sub-reliant, Kelda had a 95% chance of healing at least a point of damage. When one looks more closely it becomes clear that a single touch from Kelda has a 60% chance of healing half of Crixus’ Life (the last point doesn’t count—he’d be dead!). To be fair, she does have a 5% chance of wounding or killing him that Sonlen doesn’t have, but the risk is well worth the greater reward. Both healers will have to have an order marker to do their healing and, while Sonlen will get two chances to do damage to the enemy, he costs significantly more to draft than Kelda. If your main purpose is to heal your units—especially Crixus—you’re much better served by the Kyrie.

Crixus’ second role in your army is that of a mobile movement deterrent. He is among the best units in the game for controlling a choke point, whether it is a bridge, stream, narrow pass, or open castle gate. Once he is placed there nothing short of an Automatic Destruction power is going to be able to move him quickly. A player can easily place him in a strategic position and then allow him to “sleep” while maneuvering the rest of his army around the battlefield. The strength of such a tactic is that, as discussed earlier, Crixus is downright difficult to kill. Unless your luck takes a serious turn for the worse, any enemy wishing to get through the choke point is going to be severely slowed at the least or have their progress come to a grinding halt at the worst.

Crixus is tougher than any other 3 Defense melee unit when it comes to withstanding ranged volleys from the enemy, but given enough time and enough shots, he will eventually fail to raise the One Shield Defense and be seriously injured, if not killed outright. When he is serving as a roadblock, though, you can mitigate this weakness somewhat by positioning your longest-range squad or hero behind him. Should the enemy attempt to pick him off from afar you will be able to return fire. Of course, this tactic only works if your Range rating is a point or more higher than theirs. If the enemy seems to be coming at Crixus with melee units instead, let them come! He’ll stand strong while the rest of your army does its bloody work, and when you are ready to “wake” him with order markers he’ll stain the cobblestones red with their guts.

One final point to recomend drafting Crixus: if you want to build a competitive army, it is important to include at least one "can opener" unit in your army, a figure with a high enough attack to pierce through heavily armored heroes like Major Q9. At 90 points, Crixus is probably the best "can opener" value in the game.

Optional Strategy:
String Theory: Like any melee unit, one of Crixus' major problems is getting to the enemy without being picked apart by enemy fire. The Nakita Agents can help alleviate this problem by providing cover fire and flat-out cover in the form of their Smoke Powder 13 ability. When you need to move Crixus closer to an enemy’s ranged squads or heroes, place the first two order markers and the X bluff marker on the Nakita Agents. Place the third marker on Crixus. Regardless of initiative, move the Agents out towards the enemy, keeping them about 5-6 hexes apart as allowed by terrain, firing shots as they go, if possible. Finally, move Crixus up and adjacent to the farthest Nakita he can reach. When you next place your order markers, place the first order marker on the Agents and the rest of the numbered markers on Crixus. Again, move the Nakita Agents up but make sure Crixus can continue to reach and be protected by at least one of them. His remaining order markers should allow him to reach the lead Nakita. Continue this pattern of order marker placement until you close on the enemy and then unleash Crixus into their ranks. You can continue to provide ranged support with the Nakita Agents or you can keep them crowded around the gladiator, limiting the number of opponents he can face (and subjecting two of them to an Engagement Strike) and continuing to protect him with their Smoke Powder 13.

Which way do I go, George?: One Shield Defense is a wonderful ability to have because it will not only keep Crixus alive, but every successive time you trigger the ability after the first it will add to the ever growing mountain of frustration your opponent is sure to feel. Why not multiply those feelings by adding more units with similar powers? Build a 500 point army around the idea that most of your units will be taking reduced (or no) damage from the enemy's attacks or that getting close will be a heap of trouble. It would include Crixus, the Krav Maga Agents, Raelin (RoTV), and two squads of both the Warriors of Ashira and the Tagawa Archers. This configuration, while a bit of a nightmare in terms of order marker placement, would be a serious pain to actually face on the battlefield. It combines a good mix of ranged and melee units with fair mobility and not a single unit that is easy to crush except for Raelin, which means you'll always know where your opponent is likely to be heading. Be careful though--after the sixth or seventh time the other player rolls 5 skulls on his attack and your unit takes no damage he might throw his dice, a beverage, or a punch your way.

Units to Avoid:
Guilty McCreech and low Attack squads: How can a hero with 2 Attack and 2 Defense possibly be a danger to the human wrecking ball that is Crixus? It isn’t so much what he can do so much as what he can’t do. Thanks to One Shield Defense, 2 Attack die are as dangerous as 10…and he can attack twice per round. Even worse, many squads have an attack rating of 3 or below and can attack up to 4 times per activation. If you are unlucky one bad round can spell the end of the gladiator, and, even worse, most of those squads cost less than the unit they’ll be destroying.

Automatic Destruction Units: One Shield Defense is no defense against the likes of Grimnak, Sudema, and Dead-eye Dan, to name a few. Each of these units has its own unique danger but they all have one thing in common—Crixus should avoid them if possible. If you can’t get away from one of these units (you’re a sleeping roadblock, for example) then head directly at them the first chance you get. These types of units have a uniformly low defense and pretty pathetic Life ratings so if you close in on them you should be able to eradicate them in short order.

For additional information see the Book of Crixus

[Ullar rocks 4553]

I'd say Crixis is more of a Rook. Anyway time to pull him away from Spartacus and Retarius and get him into a Kelda Raelin Army!

[Boozehammer]

Originally Posted by Ullar rocks 4553

I'd say Crixis is more of a Rook. Anyway time to pull him away from Spartacus and Retarius and get him into a Kelda Raelin Army!

IMO Crixus is a knight due to his low cost and subsequent relatively low game impact if killed. The main difference here between this and the Rook is that the Knight class sometimes makes sense to sacrifice, in the right situation.

[Fezzikthedoor]

Actually, Ullar ect., I almost agree with you; this was a close one. I finally decided, though, that since he is a one-man wrecking crew, not a team player, and that his point cost is so low that the designation of Knight was the better choice. Like I said, it was a close one.

Glad you enjoyed it!

"In horam vivere animatus est degere flos aevi!"--Crixus

[Sherman Davies]

Crixus is one of my top 5 units in the game, but I never considered pairing him up with Thorgrim. Now I can't wait to try it.

[Dandin]

Excellent review! Top noch. Although Cyprien is one to fear when using him; the chilling touch happens often and with his wife, he can easily get 2 or 3, lucky 6 (instakill) damages on him, plus perhaps 1 more if the attack is rolled right, and because of stealth flying if Cyprien is going to die from Crixus' endurance, he can fly away without trouble. So definitely Cyprien is to avoid.

EDIT:: "x" is not a common letter in Latin, so what language is it? It looks like a Latin name (2nd dec. -us ending), but the "x" is troubling... Does anyone know the backstory or if this is actually a common name?

Also, if it is a Latin name, why is it? Gladiators are mostly slaves or captured enemies, who are usually not Roman themselves. Although, he could be a criminal...?

[Jexik]

I don't know the history, but is it possible that Crixus was Greek? They've got a letter that looks like an X ('Chi'), is pronounced closer to the German ch, but is a very common sound in Hebrew and Arabic. Maybe his Greek name was Krixos, or something similar to that, and then was Latinized?

[Sci-fi Messiah]

I always couple Crixus with Kaemon. I'll move Crixus and keep Kaemon on the move to cover Crixus to pick off any pesky ranged units that Crixus can't quite reach. You should see how pissed my opponent gets. The typical reaction is: "Alright I finally killed your Gladiator! #@*%! You still have Kaemon!"

The best part about Crixus is by the time he's dead he's already taken a healthy bite out of your opponents forces.

[Taeblewalker]

Originally Posted by Sci-fi Messiah

I always couple Crixus with Kaemon. I'll move Crixus and keep Kaemon on the move to cover Crixus to pick off any pesky ranged units that Crixus can't quite reach. You should see how pissed my opponent gets. The typical reaction is: "Alright I finally killed your Gladiator! #@*%! You still have Kaemon!"

The best part about Crixus is by the time he's dead he's already taken a healthy bite out of your opponents forces.

Like a Marvel 2-in-1!
I like the idea of pairing Crixus with Raelin. Place the Kravs within range of her aura, and you can really annoy the enemy. With your Kaemon Awa idea, that costs only 390 points - plenty of room for Kelda to heal and Marcu as filler!

[donjake]

i have made a statagey for him its have crixus in a narrow passag or somewere he cant be flankedkeep a meele squad by him or defensive hero and keep fire on the squads with your ranged units while crixus works on heros

[kpotassiumk19]

That strategy was in this article. Another strategy I have is using the Shift Key.

[donjake]

really i guess i didnt read that closely but it works none the less. I stormed my oponent and took over 100 popints with crixus beforea he went down