Arc nodes cost points, their combat abilities are much less than similarly priced models and if you choose to use those combat abilities they can no longer arc spells. Arcing spells through an arcnode also uses up focus that you could be giving to jacks or casting buff spells on your own troops. That means that when you are playing an arcnode you need to get so much out of your offensive spells that the difference between casting those spells and buffing/feeding jacks is big enough that it pays for your arc node.
Cryx doesn't suffer from this as they have the cheapest arc nodes, a lot of offensive spells and few buff spells and tend towards infantry rather than jacks, they don't use those focus resources unless they have arc nodes. Their casters that do synergise with jacks don't have a lot of offensive spells and have more buff spells. Ret doesn't suffer because one of their deadliest heavies is also their most common arc node. It doesn't cost significantly more than other jacks without the arc-node ability and I would argue is even without wanting to use the arc node a better choice than all but the very newest jacks.
Cryx doesn't suffer from this as they have the cheapest arc nodes, a lot of offensive spells and few buff spells and tend towards infantry rather than jacks, they don't use those focus resources unless they have arc nodes. Their casters that do synergise with jacks don't have a lot of offensive spells and have more buff spells. Ret doesn't suffer because one of their deadliest heavies is also their most common arc node. It doesn't cost significantly more than other jacks without the arc-node ability and I would argue is even without wanting to use the arc node a better choice than all but the very newest jacks.
The main two casters who suffer from the arc-node dillema are also the only two casters in the game with character arc-nodes that you pay points for (you have to take the old witch's arc node) Haley2 and Sev1.
Haley2
Haley2 has some of the best offensive spells in the game, Domination, Telekinesis and Time Bomb. All are devastating. All make it slightly easier to kill your opponent but are mostly useful because they blunt your opponents ability to retaliate. She also has some of the best buffs in the game. Deadeye in a faction with gun mages. Deceleration, Telekinesis again and Temporal Acceleration. What tends to happen with Haley is if you take an arc node you are playing 6 points down on your opponent, 8 points if you take her character jack and in addition to losing those points you dilute her ability to output buffs and feed her stormwall. Haley always kicks you in the balls with her feat turn but if you get through that losing only 10 points or less you usually come out ahead. Haley just can't do enough stuff to make up for the points on the arc node, especially once your opponent has engaged. This has led to builds, particularly now with the release of Stormwall, that do not contain an arc node. You just make her gun line the gunniest gunline in the game. She buffs it to hell, feeds the stormwall, uses the feat to get an extra turn of shooting you to pieces and the stormwall beats two heavies to death. You are still getting the same amount of work out of your focus (maybe more when you give it to Stormwall) but now you have 8 points of extra guns to help as well. The problem is that with no telekinesis you throw out one of her best scenario tools and Time Bomb can be game breaking against a lot of armies. If you want more scenario threat then you take an arc node.
Severius1 (Grand Scrutator Severius)
Sev1 has Ashes to ashes (hit a model and then it and the d6 nearest suffer POW 10s) and a character arc node who takes the damage of that spell up to POW 12s. It's one of the best spells in the game for dealing with high DEF or stealth infantry and at POW 12 it will also destroy things like Bane thralls and Bane Knights without difficulty. He also has death sentence which lets you reroll missed attacks as an offensive spell. However he plays menoth with some of the best jacks in the game and has Defenders Ward, Eye of Menoth and Vision which is possibly the best line up of buffs in the game. He can upkeep Defenders Ward, and Eye of Menoth and he can then feed 6 focus to his jacks. Redeemers with Eye of Menoth have POW 9 blast damage which is a bit silly, with 2 focus they can have 3 shots and if you don't need enliven you can take a 4th shot (Pro Tip: enliven is almost always the better option, you should have a good reason to use ancilliary attack, if your opponents army is 16" without a lot of shooting then that's probably a good reason). If you cast Ashes to Ashes that only leaves you two for your jacks, 1 if you boost to hit. You have to be getting more out of that focus than potential 4 AOE shots you'd get from 2 redeemers, 5 if you count the initial attack you don't get because you've spent more than the cost of a redeemer on Blessing of Vengeance. Still Ashes to Ashes is really good and unlike Haley's with her excellent jack bond all of Sev1's stuff also works on infantry. If you aren't feeding jacks then you have nothing to do with your focus but cast Ashes.
Other Casters
For those two casters I am currently in the no arc node camp but I don't think you are wrong if you take an arc node, there is a strong argument for it. The other thing you may notice is that I am making explicit attrition arguments. It's the way I prefer to play but assassination and more strongly scenario bent lists may have very different priorities when building lists. The arc node dillema only applies to attrition lists. Stryker1 for exmaple wants an arc node for earthquake and I take an arc node with him mostly because that is a straight assassination list. Nemo1 and Nemo3 both have chain lightning, Nemo1 also has voltaic snare, devastating against jacks and he is the only caster I take an arc node for attrition, Nemo3 also has force hammer and with him I take the arc node to open up the assassination. The other thing to note with Nemo1 is he actually opens up the combat potential of his arc node as well. Thorn will straight kill casters and do it from downtown thanks to his extra movement when arcing a spell.
In Menoth I don't know the casters as well. The other two casters I know (other than Sev1) are Kreoss1 and Harbinger. I feel like you are justified in reaching across the table to slap your opponent if Kreoss1 is trying to cast an offensive spell if he has any other available options. Harbinger has a really good offensive spell in fear of god but she has better options for her focus. I can see that Sev2 is good with an arc node, his ranged attack can be arced and is a mini Ashes to ashes for free, since it's a free attack and only an arcnode can use it changes the equation significantly. He also has some good offensive spells and his buffs aren't great. Reznik probably also suffers from the dillema, from a glance I'd say again to not take an arc node and rely on his buffs. Reznik probably would prefer to camp and get forward rather than arcing perditions and hex blasts.
*Note: If I do play Menoth in the League it will be Kreoss, Harbinger and Severius1. I know that seems bad but again think of the smile on my face.
*Note: If I do play Menoth in the League it will be Kreoss, Harbinger and Severius1. I know that seems bad but again think of the smile on my face.
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