[Sir Heroscape]

Originally Posted by Astroking112

Now that the Acolytes of Vorganund are in Public Playtesting and so we can see what army he'd be working with, I think that he looks like a lot of fun. Removing the heal from Sustained by Blood was definitely a smart choice, both for theme and because if he is played with the Acolytes, you only need to kill a single cultist to place him on the frontlines and mitigate the weakness of getting him into the battlefield.

Exactly. I really felt like the change to SbB was a step in the right direction thematically AND mechanically.

I wouldn't use the Hydras as a pricing point. They do have a lot of similarities with the quadruple attack, but they (theoretically) quickly lose that effectiveness, lack bonding, are slower, and don't have flying to help with positioning. Given that they're also considered to be some of the best units in the game, it's dangerous to use them as an example here.

mmm, good point.

If he's testing to be overpowered with the Acolytes, then I would go with the "can't attack the same figure more than twice" limitation on his Quadruple Attack and see where that lands. He still looks very strong on paper, but your testing suggests differently and I wouldn't say that it's a necessary nerf without trying it out.

Yeah, I'm going to keep testing him with the Quad attack since his SbB change and see how he does. With a now-constant life drain, it'll be even more imperative he be utilized/summoned when he can do the most damage. I think my preference is to stay simple with the 4 attacks and then add the clause of no more than 2 attacks on a figure if he's testing too strong.

If you're open to it, another idea for a change is to flip the life/defense ratio (going down to 4L and a higher defense) to make it harder to wound him with normal attacks and make each life point more valuable. As it stands, I'd probably ignore Sustained by Blood the majority of the time since 5 turns on the frontlines is plenty to deal damage, but making each life point more valuable makes the decision a lot harder, and it feels very in line with the cultist playstyle.

That's an interesting thought, though I'd be more afraid of him getting a few wounds in 1 turn from focused attacks and then potentially being unused until an Acolyte could get near him for him to swallow (which might take too long and be killed before one reaches him). I'd really rather the player take the occasional risk by having A-N wound himself and get enemy attacks, than be forced to kill an Acolyte EVERY activation in order for him to make sure he doesn't kill himself in just a few turns. 6 life provides some room for a few turns of hurting himself as well as eating some acolytes when it's the right time. For example, he might be out of position to eat an acolyte, but the wound to him might be worth it if he can fly in and go nuts on some enemy units. Likewise...you might also want him to Autokill an Acolyte if he's low life and you need him to survive.

Notably, destroying an Acolyte for Sustained by Blood satisfies the Acolytyes' Dark Pact, so even if he doesn't kill an opponent's figure, you get to hide from his wound for giving up the 50% chance that a squad figure will live. I'm not sure if this is in line with the theme you're intending or not.

Yes it is in line. I wanted there to be some tension for activating this guy. Autokilling an Acolyte does serve to satisfy Dark Pact, which is nice...but Dark Pact is actually the "safer" route if you fail because it's only 50% chance. So, normally you'd want A-N just to take the wound and go hurt something with only a 50% chance for an Acolyte to die. But, killing an Acolyte ensures only 1 wound is being dealt to your own army that turn and it allows A-N to survive a little longer. I like units that create this type of tension in the midst of battle.