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The Book of Venoc Vipers

dnutt99

Well-known member
The Book of Venoc Vipers
Mallidon's Prophecy - Collection 1 - "Snipers and Vipers"

43554B70-49AC-49D2-8B41-09946A39CBFC.jpg
If you cannot see the Army Card graphic, check Hasbro's Unit Page for stats and special powers, plus "character biography" and other non-game unit info.

Character Bio: Although fearsome to behold, Venoc Vipers are a passive, swamp-dwelling species. They will fight fiercely, however, when called upon to do so-especially with their lifelong enemies, the Marro warriors from their planet of Marr. Vipers and the Marros have a long history of war, so the Venoc Vipers were happy to join General Ullar in the battle against Utgar's army. Venoc Vipers are brave, fast moving (especially in water) and relentless, but they do not possess the intelligence to be cunning or highly tactical. (Hasbro)
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-Rulings and Clarifications-
  • - FRENZY : Continuous Rolling
    How does Frenzy work? Can I keep rolling for Frenzy if I get it on my first try?
    Yes. You can keep rolling for Frenzy after each turn until you roll less than a 16 or choose not to roll any more. If you're lucky, you can take multiple turns with the Vipers before your opponent has a chance to retaliate! (Hasbro FAQ)
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-Combinations and Synergies-

Synergy Benefits Received
  • - ACOLARH : Ullar’s Amulet
    As a follower of Ullar, Venoc Vipers may benefit from Acolarh’s ULLAR’S AMULET movement bonus.

    - VENOC WARLORD : Frenzy Enhancement
    Having the Frenzy power, Venoc Vipers may benefit from Venoc Warlord’s FRENZY ENHANCEMENT d20 bonus.

    - VENOC WARLORD : Scout Leadership
    As Scouts, Venoc Vipers may benefit from Venoc Warlord’s SCOUT LEADERSHIP movement bonus.

    - KHOSUMET THE DARKLORD : Relentless Assault
    Having a relentless personality, Venoc Vipers may benefit from Khosumet the Darklord’s RELENTLESS ASSAULT
    attack bonus.

    - BRAVE ARROW : Scout Melee Attack Enhancement
    Venoc Vipers may add one attack die when adjacent to Brave Arrow and attacking an adjacent figure.


Synergy Benefits Offered
  • - N/A
C3V and SoV Custom Synergies
Spoiler Alert!
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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-



Strategy Notes:
  • - The Venoc Vipers are an excellent offensive squad. They can be used to sprint out and hold down glyphs until more powerful figures come, or streak across water. They can swarm an opponent, and with a few lucky D20 rolls, totally disable it by continuously attacking. (Hasbro FAQ)

Who is affected by the Venoc Vipers' Special Powers?
  • - Slither: Only the Venoc Vipers.
    - Frenzy: Only the Venoc Vipers.
    (Hasbro FAQ)

Who else could I draft with the Venoc Vipers?
  • - Venoc Vipers
    No it's not a typo, when you draft the Venoc Vipers, draft a ton of them. They are cheap, ruthless, and fast! With their attack of 3, they can easily cut an opposing army down to size before they even get a chance to retaliate. They can rush across the battlefield, or water to grab glyphs or hold down opponents until more powerful allies can back them up. However, once the opponent can respond, their wrath is swift and devastating against the Venoc Vipers defense of 0. Draft wisely so once they start getting mowed down, you have more Venoc Vipers ready to attack. (Hasbro FAQ)

    - Venoc Warlord
    If you are going to draft an army that focuses on the Venoc Vipers, you have to draft Venoc Warlord to help the cause! His Scout Leadership and Frenzy Enhancement both impact the way the Venoc Vipers can be used.
    Once he is on the battlefield, they can streak across it with a movement of 9! Keep him safe though, if you are counting on his enhancements, your opponent will likely try to target him. (Hasbro FAQ)

    - Ranged Squads
    The Venoc Vipers are a great front line offensive squad, but they aren't the best at defending the front line. Because of that, you should try and draft some powerful ranged squads that can hopefully back up the Venoc Vipers before too many of them destroyed. (Hasbro FAQ)

Who do the Venoc Vipers work well against?
  • - Sgt. Drake Alexander
    Don't underestimate the Venoc Vipers ability to swarm an enemy. Sgt. Drake Alexander is a great example. He can only be attacked by a normal attack from an adjacent opponent. Because of that, he tends to walks right through the sights of his ranged enemies without getting a scratch. Use the Venoc Vipers to swarm Drake. You can attack him at least 3 times a turn with their attack of 3. The odds are in your favor with Drake's defense of only 3. If you roll Frenzy well enough, you might even be able to destroy Drake using only 1 turn marker! (Hasbro FAQ)

    - Squad Figures
    The Venoc Vipers only have an attack of 3, but with Frenzy, they destroy weak squads like they are nothing. By engaging ranged squad figures, they can provide enough cover for the rest of their army to advance across the battlefield. If you roll Frenzy well enough, they can pave a wave of destruction through their enemy's lines before they even get a chance to retaliate. (Hasbro FAQ)
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-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

Power Ranking and Master Index
[Power Ranking
Venoc Vipers- Though devastating at times, Q9 and four member ranged squads make the Venocs hard to field. B-

Venoc Vipers
Markwars' Successive Frenzy Odds
Overall Strategy http://www.heroscapers.com/community/showthread.php?t=10769
Frenzy Clarifications http://www.heroscapers.com/community/showthread.php?t=11019



Unit Strategy ReviewNote: These sculpts were used for the Elite Onyx Viper exclusive figures.
 
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These guys can be used as cruise missles to kill or engage high priority targets.....at forty points for 3 folks usually aren't worried about losing them.
 
definitely one of those common squads that increases in value when you have multiples.
 
I don't know if anybody though about it, but there is one type of figure they work well against, though it seems almost like an oxymoron:

High attack power unique figures.

Think about it, what is the strength of these figures? The ability to attack with lots of attack power, usually to take out a high-defence, high life enemy figure. Now, since Venocs have 0 Defence and only 1 life, you really only need 2 attack to take them out reliably, anything more is waisted. So what you do is use the Venocs to engage these powerful heroes. Then these heroes have to choose between risking a passing swipe, or wasting their attacks on such frail creatures. An added bonus is that because of their decent attack and Frenzy, while they wait for these heroes to take them out one at a time, they can slowly whitle down the heroes health.
 
Good points, though if I want a harassment figure I'll go with the 4 defense, 40 point Deathreavers over the fragile Venocs.

Venocs are for one thing. You race them across the board and hope for frenzy and try not to get picked off a long the way. If you don't make frenzy they pretty much blow. If you do, they can be devestating. Sadly, if they trigger correclty, not even Raelin can help these guys. Your only hope at any D bonus is a Glyph or height advantage.

Here's wishing EOV was a common squad...

I think Deathreavers have made the vipers pretty much obsolete...
 
I do like Firemaster's point over the reavers in that the Vipers can attack. The reavers have a good defense but suck as attackers. With luck the very same vipers that are holding down the big attacker will chew him up as well.
 
I'd rather have a live figure with a low attack engaging my opponent's beastie than a dead one with good attack power.

A lot of folks, including a good friend of mine are HUGE fans of the Vipers. I think they are fun...but as far as a competitive unit, I'm much more liable to select the Reavers.

And if you want a "Cruise Missile" then I'd go with the Ninjas of the Northern Wind...more expensive and not common, but more apt to get the job done.

Adam
 
I am extremely biased towards ullar so bear with me.
I send the venocs in with the armocs. This swarms the enemy. They must decide to take out the high movement venoc (always pick the warlord) or take a chance at the higher defense armoc. Helps the armocs survive longer. I usually take aubrian archers and sylvaris with them, as well as Acolarh (sp). Good at staling enemies. Destroys knights (most of the time). Protect deadeye. (60 points + 40 points = 100)
 
The Venocs love to play Initiative Switch. I really enjoy dropping order marker #3 on the Venocs and rushing them out. If I hit Frenzy, great - I'll attack you now. If I miss, I still have an initiative roll I can win and attack you again (with possible frenzy). 2-3 squads is a must, so when you lose that initiative roll, you can move in reinforcements. I've seen these guys take down Nilfheim, Jotun, Gilbert etc no problem with a couple of decent rolls. This is the reason they will always stay more competitive than say, Morsbane or Sudema. Those 2 cost over 100 points and require good D20 rolling to be effective. The Venocs only cost 40 points per squad, but could potentially take down way more than that with a decent roll or 2. And if they don't get those rolls, you've only lost 40 points.
 
MKSentinel said:
I think Deathreavers have made the vipers pretty much obsolete...

One advantage often overlooked with the vipers is their Slither ability. On maps with a lot of water, this can be a wonderful advantage. Then again, its becoming more and more apparent to me that people prefer to play on nothing but grass and roads with the occassional tree or ruin to break up LOS a little. *shrugs*

On a side note, I hope the Vipers are able to move over swamp terrain unhindered. Unlikely, but it seems very odd to have a swamp and not have snakes running free.
 
These guys are great. With the added two from their warlord leader pal they have 9 move. I have no problem with the 0 defense as who can't you get the drop on with the 9 movement.

I do think though you need at least 2 squads to make them viable but with 2 and ideally 3 you would be amazed who you can plow through.

I really like the vipers. They are fun fast and pretty inexpensive. The over all low defense to me is more then made up for in their high movement.

I guess too it makes a difference then I often play maps with plenty of water and terrain elevations.

No flat open fields hit my table.
 
Venoc vipers

:D venoc vipers rock. I'm not a total fan of the planet Marr, but snake aliens with a special abilty that allows them to repeatedly take turns to wipe out your opponent? You'd have to be blind to reject including them in your army. They work especially with Venoc Warlord, who of course is meant for them. 0 Defense may be bad, but, really? who cares when you got power? :D
 
I should try to make a real snipers/Vipers team if you look carefully at them in a map that has a lot of height it is a pretty good team send vipers as main attack force. Then have the snipers ready to shoot anything that comes in range. I love the vipers and they are great for killing squads with 2 or less defense.
 
Snipers/Vipers team:
2or3x Snipers
2x Venoc Vipers
Venoc Warlord

I haven't tried it, just something I had thought of.
 
Venoc's are definitely worth their points when fighting heroes with few attacks, but you really need a couple of lucky frenzy rolls to be viable against most other units.

Still, the Venocs will always be my favorite unit. Frenzy? Frenzy!
 
While the Venocs often seem to get little attention nowadays, they remain a personal favorite, given their unpredictability and devestating potential. Granted, it's their unpredictability that usually turns some people off, but never ever underestimate their "devestating" component either! ;)

I recently fielded an army including a core of Mittens and Venocs X3, and won the game at the end of TURN 4, thanks to the snakes. My opponent fielded a vampire/wolf army, and killed 2 of my venocs in turn one with his wolves... and then it all went downhill for the canine/undead forces from there. Due to a movement of 9, racing across water areas, and several key frenzies, my Venocs killed 2 Wolves of Badru, Cyprien, Sonja, and Iskra by the end of turn 4... My opponent wisely conceded... My army lost only a total of 4 snakes. :D

Venoc Vipers are often referred to as "cruise missles", and I agree.... that is indeed their primary role in games... but let's not underestimate what a well-placed cruise missle (or 12+ cruise missles) can do in a battle! For a measley 40 points, a squad of frenzying venocs can inflict a whole world of hurt on your opponent before he knows what hit him!!

Frenzy... it's more than a word. It's a way of life. 8)

SW8K
 
Ask Tiberius about how devastating these snakes can be. In a truly sick game, he was ripping me apart with the Elves at their last tournament (standard 500 point version with all the new wizards). I sent one Viper in at a time to engage Jorhdawn and flanked around the back with 2. Then, at the beginning of round 3 or 4, I won initiative and my flanking Vipers made it to Ulginesh, and both had height. He had been wounded by Zetacron previously (the only damage my army had done thus far - none of the elves were dead yet), and my 2 snakes finished the job. All of his Order Markers were on the mounted Elf for that round, and I hit 3 or 4 Frenzies.

By the time the round was over, he had Isamu left. It was brutal.
 
heres a themed viper army for around 400 points. it is:
venoc vipers x3
onyx elite vipers x1
armoc vipers x1
venoc warlord x1
the idea is the venocs swarm the enemies base using the warlords bonuses while the armocs hang back and cover the big guy. use the onyx against any ranged enemies who give you trouble.
 
It might be worth saying that, with the release of the Mohicans and Brave Arrow, these guys receive a boost due to the boost Mittens gets. The Venocs are arguably the best units for the Venoc Warlord to enhance, since they're cheap, common and receive both of his synergies offered. So now, the Vipers have the chance to become great allies to the Mohicans.

The fast-moving, ranged Mohicans are just the type of unit that the Vipers need to move in first and thin out the enemy. Once the Tribe has done it's job, the lightning-quick Vipers rush in behind, cleaning up anything the Mohicans left over. If Brave Arrow has survived the initial onslaught, tactical positioning can be used to even boost the Vipers' attack! So far, my new favorite army for the Vipers (I think) is going to be:

Venoc Warlord - 120
Venoc Vipers x3 - 240
Brave Arrow - 290
Mohicans x3 - 500, 20 hexes

This army seems to lack on defense, but the sheer speed of it is really amazing. With Mittens, the Mohicans are basically Gorillinators on crack, and that's before they engage the enemy! If your D20 is hot, this army has the potential to completely crush anything it faces. I can't wait to play it.
 
Venoc Warlord - 120
Venoc Vipers x3 - 240
Brave Arrow - 290
Mohicans x3 - 500, 20 hexes

This army seems to lack on defense, but the sheer speed of it is really amazing. With Mittens, the Mohicans are basically Gorillinators on crack, and that's before they engage the enemy! If your D20 is hot, this army has the potential to completely crush anything it faces. I can't wait to play it.
I proxied it, and KoW DESTROYED it. The vipers and Mohicans combined only killed 3 KoW. Sure, Mittens went on a rampage after that killing two squads of KoW, Gilbert, and Nilfheim before the final knight killed him. I don't think that happens often. Sure, I never roled one frenzy, but still. No powers here are reliable. You have to have luck.
 
Venoc Warlord - 120
Venoc Vipers x3 - 240
Brave Arrow - 290
Mohicans x3 - 500, 20 hexes

This army seems to lack on defense, but the sheer speed of it is really amazing. With Mittens, the Mohicans are basically Gorillinators on crack, and that's before they engage the enemy! If your D20 is hot, this army has the potential to completely crush anything it faces. I can't wait to play it.
I proxied it, and KoW DESTROYED it. The vipers and Mohicans combined only killed 3 KoW. Sure, Mittens went on a rampage after that killing two squads of KoW, Gilbert, and Nilfheim before the final knight killed him. I don't think that happens often. Sure, I never roled one frenzy, but still. No powers here are reliable. You have to have luck.

To be fair to the Vipers, that's one of their worst matchups (Ashigaru first, Q9 second, Grimnak+Orcs 3rd, then other bonded melee squads IMO). 5 attacks per turn just plain rips through Vipers. I'd rather face the Mass than the KoW.

I'd have thought the Mohicans would've done a little better though... I'm curious - how did you play it?
 
I'd also point out that it's only one game. Over the course of several you could very well get the same result, but after only one you can't draw any conclusions.
 
I've so far found that more than 2 squads of Venoc Vipers are a waste. Here is why:

1st, they seem much more effective as a counteroffensive than a first wave. That way they can get straight to the already advanced enemy without having to suffer casualties en route. At that point, they get 1 or 2 turns before they get wiped out. Putting more than 2 order markers is far too risky. So, 2 squads with 2 order markers just works out. You better have another cleanup unit in reserve to use after they die.

2nd, using only 2 squads saves you a few points and starting zone spaces. You know you are going to bring Venoc Warlord along. You should always try to bring at least 1 squad of Armoc Vipers with him. Use the saved points to make that happen.

In the above army example from killercactus, I'd say you don't really have room for Armoc's because of the 3x Mohicans, which you probably need. I'd rather have Theracus than another squad of Venocs in this case. He's a melee force in himself, and can either be used to help out Brave Arrow or as your cleanup/reserve unit.
 
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