[Pod 1] Velkhor (Ob Nixilis, Demon of Spite) - Playtesting

[NecroBlade]

Stealth Flying is also an interesting echo of Taelord. Between that, maybe aligning the Aura and Spirit, and lowering his points a little, I think we could be pretty close to something here.

[S1R_ART0R1US]

Just dropping in to say I really like the powers that you all have come up with for this figure!

[Pumpkin_King]

Thank you Art!

[Astroking112]

It looks like although we reached a consensus to drop the points to 110 and bump the range of Frailty Aura to 5 spaces, the OP hasn't been updated. Are we still comfortable with moving forward with those changes?

There is also the matter of whether Demon's Vulnerability Spirit should match Frailty Aura mechanically or not. I'm not swayed that it should, but I figure that it's worth finishing that discussion. It is worth noting that if both powers match mechanically, then Velkhor will double down on his existing niche of penalizing high-defense figures.

[Captain Stupendous]

I know I'm not officially a part of pod 1, but at this point I think I've probably done the most playtesting of Velkhor so far. I think that both of those changes are good, although I think I'd prefer stealth flying instead of 5 range on the aura. I also like keeping the aura different from the spirit, as I think it makes the decisions of whether or not to focus on killing Velkhor a bit more interesting if the spirit debuff is slightly more powerful than the aura debuff.

[Astroking112]

Stealth Flying is an interesting suggestion. I've generally been quite concerned with the Acolytes of Vorganund synergy (since Velkhor could be summoned directly into a good position and can help the other demons inflict wounds), but it probably wouldn't be a huge issue since Velkhor's unlikely to deal much damage on his own turns when repositioning.

It's a bigger buff for the Wolves of Badru, since they lose less when taking turns with Velkhor, whereas the Acolytes would prefer the increased range so that they have to move him less often. I think that either change would be solid to start testing, personally.

It is worth noting that with Morgoloth, Velkhor can have 7 move with potentially Stealth Flying. That's very mobile for a cheerleader figure, and it'll be more common to see those two in an army with their shared synergies.

[Scytale]

The best thing about the Stealth Flying suggestion as opposed to an aura increase is that it makes Velkhor a more aggressive figure. He'll need to stay close to use his aura, and if he's moving in close anyway you'll be tempted to attack with him.

I'm still fine with an aura increase, if we choose to go that way instead.

I'm so-so on changing the spirit effect. The self-sameness is enticing, but it does double-down on affecting high-defense units. Maybe that's a good thing.

[NecroBlade]

FWIW, I kinda like the Taelord-esque Stealth Flying suggestion, and the Aura vs Spirit difference doesn't bother me as much as it did initially given that's what Arktos does.

[Captain Stupendous]

I also really like how the difference between the spirit and power adds some tension to whether or not its best to focus attacks on Velkhor. If they were the same, then it would always be a good idea to kill off Velkhor as quickly as possible. The fact that the spirit is arguably more powerful but only affects one hero forces Velkhor's opponent to "pick their poison" to an extent, which I quite like.

[Scytale]

Originally Posted by Captain Stupendous

I also really like how the difference between the spirit and power adds some tension to whether or not its best to focus attacks on Velkhor. If they were the same, then it would always be a good idea to kill off Velkhor as quickly as possible. The fact that the spirit is arguably more powerful but only affects one hero forces Velkhor's opponent to "pick their poison" to an extent, which I quite like.

Good point. Making the spirit simply a weaker version of the aura (affects one figure instead of multiple) kills the tension.

[Astroking112]

Thinking on Velkhor more, I'd be happy to proceed with Stealth Flying and a decrease to 110 points for further testing. I think that the alternative aura size of 5 is a stronger buff for Acolytes, since they will rarely want to spend turns on Velkhor over a more offensive Demon.

The Wolves, though, might benefit quite a bit from being able to reposition their aura more effectively, and repositioning Velkhor into increasingly uncomfortable positions makes the tension in his spirit power more interesting than a one-and-done OM placement. In any case, I think that a change to the OP is warranted here.

[superfrog]

Done.