Saturday, February 21, 2015

Round table discussion: Season 3 Piwates

Krosmaster Arena: Season 3 is coming soon, and the spoilers for the new figures are being leaked out at a steady pace by Ankama.

In this article, we take a look at the upcoming Piwate-class figures, and how they just might change things up.

The discussion is joined by R.Nav, William, Jeric, Gabe & Billy.




R.Nav
"The pirates are set up to reward an interesting tactic of catching yourself in an aoe to hit others. They pair nicely with a mounted dark vlad, who will never hurt them."


William
"The models themselves look great. Depending on how the head is attached to the body I don't see many weak points for accidental snapping. The fact that they are all uniques means there should be a few more, hopefully some white names with the same ability. I see keeping them alive being pretty dang easy if you set up 2-3 in an aoe as mentioned. Great Dark Vlad symbiosis as mentioned. Good point spread, though not sure we'll see a 5 or 6 pointer unless there's an admiral pun to be made, Admiral Anear Rere perhaps?"


[Note: It as since been revealed that Haz will be a white name, and there is a promo Piwate currently unannounced]


Gabe
"Piwates look to have potential, now I just need a Pawwot. I think they have potential, but no more than the Knights or Bandits they will be fun to play, their team power will make for some interesting strategies people will have to focus fire on one Piwate at a time, which isn't an uncommon strategy they'll be fun for casual, I don't know how competitive they will be."



Jeric
"The most intriguing thing for me is their shared power, Brethren of the Coast. It really lends itself to their swarm tactics, because they can freely jump a target with more assurance that if an AOE attacks scores a critical strike against, the entire attack can end up not sticking because of the group healing. I’m not sure what to make of Hazwonarm because his buffing spell “Strength of the Putrid Souls” really seems like more of a speed boost and maybe picking up an extra Kama or accessing the Demonic Rewards, because the +1 AP doesn't really allow any of the previewed models extra uses of abilities. I also appreciate the varied damage types throughout the crew as they are obviously meant to be played together and aren't as penalized as previous sub types who tend to stick to one or two elements."




Billy
"I agree they must be run as a team. I do not think they will hold up in tournament situations. It would be awesome to run a theme tournament. The immunity on Buck to me is a waste. Hazwonarm is the better of the three in my opinion."



Jeric
"I feel like full [round] team immunity for 1 ap is a bit much to ask. [Turt Hell] lets them work in the same space without worry of killing a buddy."




Billy
"To clarify it it useful in very limited scenarios. If it carried through the round meaning I go you go, that would be better. This still does not stop stick teams... a big boy lays 8 pts damage down on boomba he is not going to survive... Or even better 8 pt aoe it would kill 2 of three."



R.Nav
"Same risk as playing bandits"



Billy
"Haz I see as having the most potential. Boomba is interesting with his attack. I could see a nice buff from demonic rewards."



Gabe
"Plus it's a fun theme, who wouldn't want to play Pirates?"



William
"Actually it would be hilarious to see one of these Chafer skeleton guys poorly dressed as a Pawwot mascot."



Gabe
"This spoiler has given me a lot of hope of new things to come from season 3."



Jeric
"Me too."


Photo Credit: Ankama/Double Critical


-R.Nav never knows what to say in these things. It's probably why he's best kept in the background, playing with Layouts & Logos. Which is exactly like Dungeons & Dragons, but not as cool.

-William is an avid Boardgamer, and a fly by the seat kind of player.

-Jeric is an established miniatures player who provides tactical insight, event reports and a few odds and ends along the way

-Gabe always tries to fix things.  Father of two, so it's done when the kids are sleeping.

-Billy still hasn't turned in a bio.

6 comments:

  1. Randy, if you combine this piwate team (one of each) with Dark Vlad, are the piwates all instantly healed of Dark Vlad's initial damage from Iopism? It forces each of his teammates to suffer 2 damage (3 if Dark Vlad is Karnated). But in turn, since they each suffered 2 or more damage, Brethen of the Coast should trigger and each would get healed by 2 (one for each other pirates). In turn that would completely nullify that initial damage. You throw in a 4th pirate and you could offset Dark Vlad Karnated's initial Dark Iopism.

    That plus Buck Anear's super cheap (I'd almost declare game breakingly cheap) Turt Hell skill and you've got a team that combined with Dark Vlad is ready to do some major damage with none of the initial cost that would normally be associated with Dark Vlad nor any of the collateral damage from his flame shock skill.

    Plus you can throw in an Ogrest who can spend his turns sitting on a box in the back constantly extending his range by 2 a turn (+6 by the 3rd turn if my math is correct) and never hurting his own team (again via Turt Hell) and you have a pretty darn strong team in my opinion and depending on your team selection still a few points to spare for a say a healer like Di Curey or Steamy Wonder.

    Also, any word on what constitutes a "character" with regards to the Turt Hell skill? Krosmasters only? Krosmasters and mobs? That's the one thing I really wish Japanime and Ankama would get straight is one firm set of terminology not this constantly changing mix and match terminology and phrasing. All one needs to do is look at Dark Vlad's two forms and notice that they changed the wording of his Iopism power from "beginning of the fight" to "beginning of combat" to notice the ridiculousness of it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Turt Hell + Summoners
      Once the english cards are officially released, I can get a ruling on whether or not Turt Hell applies to summons still in the womb. (Not on the board when cast)

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    2. Turt Hell:
      Let's use summons rather than Mobs. Mob is supposed to mean "Mobile OBject" and there's a lot of symantec issues now that there's carts and such.
      Summons are Characters unless noted otherwise. Currently the only things that aren't Characters are Mechanisms (Turrets, Traps, & Bombs).
      Turt Hell applied to allied characters; a Tofu would be fine, a bomb would not. This is different from "Allied Pieces"

      Delete
    3. I'll address your questions individually so it's easier to go back and reference.
      Dark Vlad + Piwates:
      BOTC is a standby power/effect. It'll trigger after the damage is calculated for all targets.
      (It goes like this: Damage, Dice, Modifiers, Place damage tokens, Standby effects)
      This is important because it's entirely possible to be hit with too much damage in an AOE before the chain of healing can happen. The healing would trigger on the same phase, so it's considered a simultaneous effect. The order of simultaneous effects resolve in the active player's order.

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    4. What about Dark Vlad's Iopism which is triggered at the beginning of the match? Would that trigger Brethren of the Coast and in turn heal the Piwates of the damage they sufferred? 3 piwates, each suffer 2 damage from Iopism, but each would in turn heal 1 damage x 2 for his 2 brethren, thus each is fully healed.

      Delete
    5. It works the same way, as stated above.
      (Damage [2 damage], Dice[none], Modifiers[None],Place tokens, Standby effects [BOTC].)

      Delete