The Book of Erevan Sunshadow

[dok]

Originally Posted by killergoat72

5 range 4 dice

pretty sweet not many units compare

Nilfheim, Q9, Sonlen, Q10, Mimring, DW9k, Kaemon, Jorhdawn, Chardris, Roman Archers, Arkmer. And many, many more if they have height advantage.

[Kroc]

The Rev and I would like to encourage pre-release theoryscaping to be done in Tai-pan's cool thread.

[spiteofthedice]

Having proxied Erevan last night, I have to say, he performed much better than everyone seems to think.

2 great things about Erevan I haven't seen anyone mention yet:

1) Fey Step is great just to get Erevan into battle from the start zone late in the game. Rather than taking multiple turns just to walk him into battle and get him in a good position, jump up out of the start zone and up levels with Fey Step, then immediately take a full turn getting him up near support. (Granted, our battlefield was small, but so is Erevan's range, so he probably is better-suited to a smaller map anyway).

2) Fire Blast is IDEAL for taking out:

a. 8-Life, 1-Defense units with Regenerative abilities (a la Troll).
b. Expensive squad figures with special defensive abilities that don't work against Special Attacks (a la Drow).

Turns out Erevan is very good at both of these things. He definitely needs support, and Raelin and Ana were both working to keep him alive, but that's what they're supposed to do, and it was a very solid win.

[dok]

Originally Posted by spiteofthedice

2) Fire Blast is IDEAL for taking out:

a. 8-Life, 1-Defense units with Regenerative abilities (a la Troll).

Ideal in what sense? A figure with only one defense is actually quite vulnerable to multiple relatively weak attacks. Erevan does 1.79 wounds per turn, on average, to the troll. By contrast, something as weak as 3 attacks of 2 inflicts an average of 2.25 wounds - that's 25% better than Erevan. Compare Erevan's turn to a typical squadscape attack (3 attacks of 3, over 3.6 wounds on average) and it's less than half as effective.

(And, although it's a side point here, Erevan's high life total is exactly the sort of target the Troll wants to seek out.)

Originally Posted by spiteofthedice

b. Expensive squad figures with special defensive abilities that don't work against Special Attacks (a la Drow).

Here you're almost certainly right - having a ranged special, or really any special at all, is great against Drow or Nakitas or G-Nators. This is really the ideal situation for Erevan. All I'd say is that other figures can do this job in a more point-efficient way.

[spiteofthedice]

Originally Posted by dok

Ideal in what sense? A figure with only one defense is actually quite vulnerable to multiple relatively weak attacks. Erevan does 1.79 wounds per turn, on average, to the troll. By contrast, something as weak as 3 attacks of 2 inflicts an average of 2.25 wounds - that's 25% better than Erevan. Compare Erevan's turn to a typical squadscape attack (3 attacks of 3, over 3.6 wounds on average) and it's less than half as effective.

(And, although it's a side point here, Erevan's high life total is exactly the sort of target the Troll wants to seek out.)

Fair enough. I guess I just had him very well-protected, so he got to do a little more damage.

[The Mi-Go 13]

Can Erevan's extra attacks (for rolling all skulls) be used on different figures? I would think so as it says 'extra attack" but he's fresh and shiny and I want to make sure.

Thanks gang,

M13

[spiteofthedice]

Originally Posted by The Mi-Go 13

Can Erevan's extra attacks (for rolling all skulls) be used on different figures? I would think so as it says 'extra attack" but he's fresh and shiny and I want to make sure.

Thanks gang,

M13

Yes, because there just isn't any reason to think he would have to keep hitting the same figure over and over. The card says "attack again with FBSA," which strongly suggests starting the attack over from its targeting phase.

[NecroBlade]

I agree that yes, you can target different figures each time.

I was going to cite Nilfhiem, Captain America, and Kumiko as examples of figures that specify what you can and can't target. But then the designers felt the need to specify on Q9 and Q10 that you could target the same or different figures each time... (I'd really like to know how they determine the wording for various cards. Some clarifications are made on some cards but not others. Who knows.)

Anyway, rest assured the answer is 'yes.'

[Aquatix]

note that Fey Step means "before moving" - that means he can move after using Fey Step.
If they had made Erevan a valiant figure, and an elf, he would be great. I'm sure my friends and I would make such a change when playing for fun. But until they release Eladrin support, this guy won't be seen much in tournaments, when you could draft Raelin for the same points - or if you're an elf fan, Emirroon.

[mathguy]

Yes, the average number of wounds or squad figure kills per turn is better with Fire Blast 4. So if that is the goal, it is always better to use Fire Blast 4.

However, there are actually circumstances (albeit few) when using Fire Blast 2 might be better. This can happen at the end of a game in a death match situation when Erevan Sunshadow is pitted against a squad, For Fire Blast 2 to be better, one needs the average kills fairly close to that of Fire Blast 4 (such as versus defense 0, 1, or 2) and one needs to take advantage of the difference in variance; one will need there to be more than one full squad so that having higher odds of killing off more figures work to the advantage of Fire Blast 2. Here are three two examples.

Erevan Sunshadow's win percentages versus 4 Venoc Vipers:
Fire Blast 2:   15.0%
Fire Blast 3:   12.3%
Fire Blast 4:   10.5%

Erevan Sunshadow's win percentages versus 5 Roman Archers:
Fire Blast 2:   11.1%
Fire Blast 3:   10.679%
Fire Blast 4:   10.682%

The reason that you need more than one full enemy squad for Fire Blast 2 to show better is because if there were only one squad, then killing at least one figure is very important because if reduces the enemy's attacking power immediately and so in that situation Fire Blast 4 would be better. That is why the above examples all have the enemy having more than one full squad. The above numbers were gotten from my just updated Matchup Calculator. Happy New Year and I can't wait to get the new D&D figures.

[dok]

Originally Posted by mathguy

Yes, the average number of wounds or squad figure kills per turn is better with Fire Blast 4. So if that is the goal, it is always better to use Fire Blast 4.

However, there are actually circumstances (albeit few) when using Fire Blast 2 might be better.

Great to have confimation of that stuff, mathguy. I think you missed the most significant one, though:

Erevan Sunshadow's win percentages versus Krav Maga Agents at range:
Fire Blast 2:   18.5%
Fire Blast 3:   10.6%
Fire Blast 4:   7.3%

[wriggz]

It is worth noting that you can start with Fire Blast 2 and then move on to Fire Blast 4. So you could take out a couple of vipers and hit Venoc warlord with a 4. Heck, you would always use 4 on the last figure in your range.

I would likely use Fire Blast 2 or even 3 much of the time with the hopes of Hiting the 2 or 3 Skulls and getting a second hit of 4. This may not be the most "mathmatical" advantagous plan, but the my gut says its worth it.