Unit Strategy Review: How to Use Retiarius

[Fezzikthedoor]

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

Retiarius literally means “net man” and was the name given to “Neptune’s Fishermen”—the gladiators trained to fight in the arena not with a shield and sword, like those of the secutor or murmillo, but rather with a net and trident. His armor was different than that of a standard gladiator as well: he wears no helmet; his galerus (shoulder guard) is worn by no other class of gladiator, and his manica (arm guard) is worn on the left arm and not the right. Whether Einar’s Retiarius has forgotten his name due to his long enslavement or taken on his gladiator class as his own name, we cannot be sure. What is certain is that Retiarius, more so than either of his fellow slaves, is difficult to use effectively on the battlefields of Valhala. Let’s see if we can find the best way for him to give honor to those that fight with his name.

First we’ll take a closer look at his stats:

Analyzed Statistics
Cost - 90 - Bishop Class Unit
Size - Medium – Vulnerable/Concealable
Life - 4 – Below Average
Move - 5 – Average
Range - 1 - Close Range
Attack - 5 – Dangerous
Defense – 3 – Below Average
Net Trip 14 – 35% chance to limit target to a single Defense die – Sub-reliant

In-Depth Analysis

Each unit is complex, and must be well analyzed to be truly understood. For Retiarius, 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:
Retiarius is only a Bishop Class Unit. This may seem strange at first since his fellow gladiator, Crixus, has almost identical stats and is considered a Knight. Both have strong attacks and are powerful melee fighters that can be enhanced by Spartacus’ unique Gladiator Inspiration special ability, but Retiarius lacks the durability that Crixus possesses due to his One Shield Defense power. Because of this, Retiarius is a valuable hand-to-hand fighter but he cannot be expected to last nearly as long as either of his brethren. You must play Retiarius much more carefully and know that his next attack might well be his last.

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

Offense:
If he is facing a Medium or Small sized unit that he can use his Net Trip 14 Special Ability on, Retiarius can deliver as much damage as a fighter with a much higher Attack Value than 5. If he chooses his targets with care, there are few units that will survive more than three rounds with the gladiator. Against other, larger units, his offensive power is still a viable threat against most enemies, even with a threat range of only 6 (Movement +Range).

Survivability:
Retiarius is unfortunately weak in this area: he has the lowest Life of his fellow gladiators at 4 and a sub-standard Defense of just 3, with no special abilities to help augment his resistance to damage. As a Medium figure he receives no immunities to special attacks and his sculpt—while concealable behind cover such as ruins, trees, and larger units—is not particularly easy to hide due to its broad shoulders and open-legged stance.

Strategy:
The first thing to understand about Retiarius is what he is not. He is not a singularly powerful stand-up fighter; he simply doesn’t have the stamina for that. As was just detailed above, his Defense and Life make him quick to fall if confronted by a hard-hitting opponent. A toe-to-toe engagement with the likes of Su-Bak-Na or Jotun is nothing more than a suicide run; similarly, if he charges into a waiting line of ranged units his outcome is the same—a quick death.

Retiarius is not a first-wave assault unit unless you have no other units that can lead a first-wave. If he is used as an early game fighter it is almost guaranteed that he will not last until the mid or late game. It can be hard to hold him back at the start because the natural inclination of most players is to get their heavy-hitters out in front to do as much damage as possible as quickly as possible, and with such a high attack rating it just seems right that he should be on the front line, true to his Rebellious personality type. Resist this urge! As we shall see, Retiarius is a monster of melee combat, but you must pick and choose his fights for maximum advantage.

Retiarius is also not an anti-swarm or anti-squad hero. It is easy to make this mistake since, with only four exceptions (Marro Cavalry, the Marrden Hounds, Deathstalkers, and Templar Calvary) all the Squads currently or soon to be in the game are Medium or Small units. While this does make them vulnerable to his Net Trip 14, his single attack means that there are other heroes that are much more efficient at “crowd control” at or near his point cost, such as Sir Hawthorne, Brunak, Syvarris, or Kaemon Awa. The gladiator may have the highest attack of these units, but it is wasted on the single life squad units. This is not to say, however, that he should hesitate to slaughter a squad member if it comes within his threat zone (in fact, there are a few squads he should seek out, as detailed below). Just remember that even if he fails to Net Trip his opponent his high Attack of 5 is enough to crush almost any squad member.

To use Retiarius to his utmost a player must remember who he is and where he came from. This is a man who was trained to fight one-on-one or in matched pairs against a similar number of opponents in the arena. A retiarius was almost never matched against large beasts because his weapon would have given him an unfair reach advantage—it just wasn’t bloody enough for the plebes in the audience. Instead, he was sent against other men who used more conventional weapons that gave them an edge in terms of brute strength: a retiarius had to fight smart with a weapon set that took a great deal of skill, dexterity, and training to use; save for his arm guard he had little armor and could fall easily if unable to maneuver. Like a retiarius, the player must fight smart and use great strategy to utilize him to his fullest.

The first thing to do is to always place two active order markers on Retiarius if it is at all possible. These can be in any combination and can be a 3/1 combination meant to carry over from turn to turn. The reason this is so important is that, even choosing your enemies wisely, a player won’t always be able to trigger Net Trip 14 and/or kill his opponent in a single strike. You mustn’t allow Retiarius to linger too long in an engagement with an active enemy! Strike hard, strike fast, and strike to kill!

Who is the perfect enemy? Ideally, Retiarius should attack units that have a high Defense, Low Life, and generally weak Attack. The two prime hero targets for the gladiator are the Deathwalker 7000 and Warden 816, both of whom have the aforementioned statistics. Both are dangerous—the Deathwalker due to it’s propensity to detonate when engaged with a melee unit and the Warden because of his Eviseraxe—but well worth the risk. Two sets of squads also make good opponents: the Minions of Utgar and the Zettian Guards. Of the two, the Minions are the more dangerous due to their Deadly Strike so try not to engage them in groups of larger than two; preferably, find a straggler, use Net Trip 14, then eliminate him.

The next set of enemies are good targets that you may kill in a single assault or two and who have a low enough Attack rating that, should he fail, the gladiator shouldn’t immediately fall to their counter attack. These are units like the heroes Finn, Thorgrim, Ne-Gok-Sa, Sir Gilbert, and Kiova. Valguard can also be counted among these ranks, but his high life gives him a bit more durability, though you have significantly less to fear from his Attack of 2. Technically, Cyprien could be considered in this group too, but the combination of his Chilling Touch and high Life make him a wild card that is best avoided altogether if possible. The Sentinels of Jandar are the only squad that falls into this secondary category of choice targets.

Third are the enemies that will likely fall within a single assault or two provided Retiarius is able to use Net Trip 14 at least once (and preferably twice). These units have an Attack rating of at least 4 and can do serious damage to the gladiator unless destroyed quickly. They are Concan, Kaemon Awa, Kee-Mo-Shi, Master Win Chiu Woo, and Agent Carr. Of these heroes Agent Carr is the most dangerous; if you fail to kill him you face his Sword of Reckoning and it will doubtless be wrecking Retiarius’ day.

The final pair of enemies that Retiarius can be particularly effective against are Sir Hawthorne and Spartacus. Both of these units have fair Defense—making them legitimate targets of Net Trip 14—and a dangerously high attack. In the case of Spartacus he can drive Retiarius to his knees with an attack of 6; Sir Hawthorne can pummel the poor gladiator over and over with his Blind Rage Special Attack. A good idea is to soften up these units with a volley from a ranged squad before you get too close; otherwise, they might well kill Retiarius before he can finish the job. If it is at all possible, close in on these two when they are "sleeping" so that, even if you don't kill them this turn, you can try to go first next turn to finish the job.

There are many units that did not make this list; don’t misunderstand: they are all valid targets. But, if you have drafted Retiarius you should do your best to make him count, and attacking units that have a high survivability is a fine way to do that. Net Trip 14 is a wild card power that can level the playing field against the enemy’s Medium sized “tanks”. Since he might well die with every engagement, make each one count.

The mid game is a fine time to deploy Retiarius. The reason for this is threefold: first, it allows you to pick and choose targets that are already engaged with your first wave; second, it gives you the chance to avoid the ranged fire that is so deadly to the gladiator as they are probably in position already and you can avoid or take an advantageous route around them; and finally, any unit that may have had a high life or outrageous Attack (Alastair McDirk springs to mind) will hopefully already be wounded, making him a prime target for a swift death from Retiarius’ trident.

Should you hold him back until the late game, Retiarius can make a good clean-up unit, although he is limited somewhat by his slow movement. The other disadvantage of holding him back this long is that you won’t be able to choose which units to engage—he’ll just be going after whatever is left, which might be all ranged or Large units…not optimum conditions for this Fisherman of Neptune. If there are a couple of high defense units still hanging around, though, you could certainly do worse than Retiarius; his 5 attack does qualify him as something of a “can opener”.

I should also take a moment to mention both Spartacus--since Retiarius can be affected by his Gladiator Inspiration special ability, thereby gaining a bonus of +1 to his Movement, Attack, and Defense--and Crixus, who, with nearly identical stats and the same cost as Retiarius, is usually the more viable draft choice. As is widely acknowledged, 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 or go with all three gladiators, look at Spartacus’ Strategy Guide for how Retiarius’ tactics can be modified.

When it comes to Crixus, it can be difficult to see why choosing Retiarius is the better choice and comparing the two is quite valid. The best argument is this: if you are going to be facing 3 or more units from the list of viable targets for Net Trip 14 (presented above) on the battlefield, Retiarius might be the better choice since he has the potential to do more raw damage per attack. If the enemy is basing his army around 2 or more Large units like Jotun or Tor-Kul-Na, though, you will be better served drafting the more convenitonal murmillo gladiator instead due to his much higher survivability. Better yet, draft them both and use them as a matched pair!

Optional Strategies:
Matched Pairs: Two units that complement each other nicely are Retiarius and Crixus; one almost imagines that they trained and fought together before fighting for their freedom. A fine way to take advantage of these two is to lead into Medium size units with Crixus using the first order marker (have the X bluff on him as well). His attack of 5 is quite strong, and might well kill the unit, but, if it doesn't, he has a good chance of only taking a single point of damage due to his One Shield Defense. Have both the two and three marker on Retiarius, who will then engage the target, trying to execute a Net Trip before striking. If the enemy survives he now faces a choice--attack the more resiliant Crixus, who he may have already wounded, or the more dangerous Retiarius, leaving himself open (possibly) to Crixus' strong attack as well. With any luck, he won't be alive long enough to make the right choice...but if he is, he won't be for long.

Grab-n-Gut: The Gladiatrons are the most natural fit in the world for Retiarius. Their power, like his, only affects small and medium units and, once they’ve locked their target in an irresistible Cyberclaw, there’s no escape. Use squads of Gladiatrons to lock up important, high priority targets for Retiarius (making sure to have more than one Gladitron on the enemy unit at a time since the enemy will likely destroy at least one) and then move the gladiator into position. Use Net Trip 14, shove the trident through their chest, and move on to the next tied-down Medium unit. This strategy is not as effective as the Gladiatron/Blastatron combo, but does allow you the potential for less damage to be blocked by the target and more targets to be tied up per squad of Gladiatrons. It can also be useful if your Blastatrons have been destroyed but your Gladiatrons have not, or if you are using a different ranged squad as your main ranged support for your army.

Units to Avoid:
Grimnak and Sujoah: Although he is vulnerable to all the automatic destruction units due to his Medium size, most of those same units are vulnerable to Net Trip 14 and a quick death from Retiarius' high attack; these two are the exception. Both are dangerous of their own way--Grimnak has a 25% chance to Chomp Retiarius out of existence; Sujoah's Poison Sting can pump toxins into the gladiators body until his heart explodes, provided the Attack of 4 or the shock (a roll of 20) doesn't kill him instantly.

Deathstalkers and the Rechets of Bogdan: Once again the gladiator's Medium size works against him. The Rechets are deadly against any Medium unit, and Retiarius is no exception. If you must face them kill them quickly or retreat. The Deathstalkers aren't usually considered too dangerous since there is only a 12.5% chance they will activate Maul, but with a life of only 4, a single Maul is enough to put Retiarius a breath away from the grave. Unlike the Rechets, they cannot be Net Tripped either, meaning there is no guarentee you'll be able to kill them one-on-one, let alone 3-on-1. Remember that they are incredibly swift and stay aware of their postion on the battlefield.

Crixus: Even if Retiarius trips him, he still has a 33% chance to block all but one skull’s worth of damage. Head to head, the odds just favor the more traditional gladiator. Send in four member units with an attack of between 1-3 to help negate the impact of the One Shield Defense.

For additional information see the Book of Retiarius