High Exemplar Kreoss

Today, I'm going to start my new series: Caster Profiles. I'm hoping to do this weekly. I'll go over casters in depth, reviewing their spell lists, their feats, their tier lists, good model synergies, and an example army list. Today I'm going to start with a caster very near and dear to my heart, the Menoth Battlebox caster, High Exemplar Kreoss.

Let's start with the statline and special rules. Kreoss is pretty standard here. His 14/15 defensive stats are a bit below average, though his Reach MAT 7 POW 14 weapon is very respectable-- moreso because it has Dispel, an excellent effect. This leads to my first observation: Kreoss is NOT a frontline caster, except under certain circumstances which I will discuss later. He is simply too fragile.

Kreoss's spell list is where things start to get interesting. Let's go over them one by one.

Cleansing Fire is a somewhat pricey (3 FOC) AOE attack. It has a decent POW on its direct hit, but the low POW of the blasts means that it's only likely to kill very lightly armored targets (Gun Mages, Nyss Hunters etc.) Furthermore, it's a small AOE, unlikely to catch more than one or two enemies. Critical Fire is a nice effect but not reliable, and we have much much better fire AOEs. This is not a great spell.

Defender's Ward is one of the best upkeeps in the game-- only Eye of Menoth is more powerful. +2 DEF and +2 ARM can make an already high-DEF unit a nightmare to hit, or an already rock-hard unit almost impregnable. On a unit with mixed defensive stats it can push both up to sky-high levels. If you do not upkeep Defender's Ward during any turn in the game it should only be because you plan to cast it that turn. Ending any turn with Defender's Ward inactive is foolish. I'll go over how to target it later in the analysis, with one exception: note that if you cast it on Kreoss himself, he goes up to 16/17 base defensive stats, which is much more powerful. The combination of that and camping focus puts him at 16/23, which is nigh-impossible for most enemies to crack, barring Blessed or Arcane Assassin. Under those circumstances, Kreoss can become a bit of a beatstick, as he can spend two or three focus a turn boosting his attacks and buying more and still keep his ARM above 20. This is purely a lategame strategy, but you should not be afraid to cast Defender's Ward on yourself and run around wrecking face. Note that slams will knock Kreoss on his butt and heavy warjacks or weapon masters will kill him-- so you should think carefully before you throw the High Exemplar into melee. Also note that dispel effects will remove his DEF bonus, rendering him much easier to hit. You should look very carefully at what is still in the game on your opponent's side before you use this strategy.

Immolation is Kreoss's go-to attacking spell. RNG 8, COST 2 and POW 12 are all very standard for an offensive spell, and Critical Fire, while nice, is nothing to rely on. Generally you will get more mileage out of Kreoss's support spells or focus allocation, although this is useful to snipe out Incorporeal targets. Also you should realize that both of Kreoss's offensive spells are fire-typed, meaning some things (Assault Kommandos and Strakhov, Druids of Orboros, Feora, Cleansers) are immune to them.

Lamentation is very good upkeep spell with a few caveats. It doubles the cost to cast or upkeep spells if the enemy is in your control area. A few things to note about this spell:
First, all you have to do is end your turn with the enemy in your control area to force them to pay extra to upkeep. After all, they'll have to start their turn in your control area. Against some enemies, such as Damiano, this is often enough, as he'll have to spend all six of his Focus just to keep his three upkeeps going. Against others, such as pMagnus, Absylonia, the Old Witch, and Doomshaper, this is less useful, since they don't have to pay to upkeep one or all of their spells.
Second, remember that you can't have this and Defender's Ward active on Kreoss at the same time. So if you're going for the endgame strategy described above, you'll have to do it without Lamentation.
Third, remember that the enemy can just back out of your control area to cast at normal cost. This will often mean that they're out of range with their offensive spells, but if they have arc nodes this won't be a problem. If Lamentation is part of your game plan, you should have a way to lock down arc nodes. The easiest way to do this is to engage them, as with one exception engaged models can't channel. The best models to use with this strategy are in the synergies section.
Fourth, 14" seems like a long distance but isn't really, especially if the enemy caster is behind their own front line. You'll have to make sure that Kreoss isn't putting himself in harm's way in order to get use out of this spell.

Purification is Kreoss's last spell, and it's a real doozy. This spell removes ALL continuous effects, upkeep spells and animi in his control area. This includes your own, so if you're planning to cast Purification, drop Lamentation and Defender's Ward and recast them after you've pulsed. Generally in using Purification, you should ask yourself two questions: first, what will I do with one turn of freedom from enemy upkeeps; and second, am I costing myself more than I am costing the enemy? Fortunately the second question is easy: Kreoss has only defensive upkeeps, so as long as they're up at the end of the turn, you're getting the full benefit of them; so it's a simple matter to drop and recast them. If you had Lamentation and Defender's Ward active, you're costing yourself 5 Focus in recasts. You are also costing your opponent in recasts, so that's a simple measurement to make. However, it's not as easy as comparing costs. If your opponent has Admonition on, say, the Deathjack, that's only 2 Focus in recasts, but by dispelling it you are giving yourself the chance to destroy or cripple the Deathjack without it being able to escape. That might be worth it, even if you have to pay more for recasts. The first question-- what will I do-- is key. What upkeeps does your opponent have? If he's got Crippling Grasp on a unit of yours, blasting it off renders that unit able to function for the turn-- that's definitely valuable. If he's got Defender's Ward on a unit of his, getting rid of it can help you wipe that unit out. In the end Purification is a spell that you can't just fire and forget. You have to have a plan for what you're going to do with it. In the end, though, it's an invaluable tool, destroying magical protections and forcing the enemy to spend critical Focus recasting upkeeps. With a Hierophant and Wracks Kreoss has an effective 9 Focus to play with, so he often comes off well just by force the opponent to spend their more limited supply.

Next, we've got Kreoss's feat. This is a real doozy, as powerful as it is simple: enemies within 14" of Kreoss are knocked down. That's it. This is an incredible assassination feat, as a knocked-down foe can't move (via Admonition, Enliven, etc.), can't block line of sight to a caster, and has his DEF reduced to 5. Many games end with "Ok, Kreoss drops his upkeeps, allocates 2 FOC to each of his Redeemers and his Reckoner, pops his feat and shoots you to pieces." Furthermore, units can't Shake Effects or make free strikes, so if you knock over a melee unit and walk out of melee range with it that unit won't be attacking anyone for a turn. There's two ways to use this feat, as I see it: a knockout punch or a body blow. A knockout punch would be killing the warcaster with it: simple, direct, and game-ending. If you don't quite think you can pull that off, you can do so much damage to his army that he can't keep slugging it out with you-- that's a body blow.
Now obviously, the biggest problems with this feat are models that can't be knocked over (models with Steady, models in base contact with Pirate warjacks), models that don't care about being knocked over (Magnus, Shae, Amon ad-Raza) or models that can get back up after being knocked over easily (Bane Thralls with UA, Tyrant Commander). If a model protects other nearby models from knockdown-- Satyxis Raider Captains, Bosun Grogspar, warjacks with Lash, Paingiver Task Masters, the Covenant-- it should be a priority target and should go down before you feat. If a model doesn't care about knockdown, you should plan your feat turn around that. For example, you can't really go for a knockdown assassination against Phinneus Shae, but if you can knock over his troops you can cripple his army. Finally, if you are going for a body blow you should be sure to take out models that can stand up other models, like Gatormen Wrastlers, Fell Callers, Tyrant Commanders and Bane Thrall UAs.

Now, the tier list. This is an interesting one, as it has most of what you want, but tilts a bit differently than you'd expect. There are a key models and units missing, but you can make an interesting tier.

You can have all warjacks except for the Avatar, Blessing of Vengeance, Scourge of Heresy and Blood of Martyrs. The only one there you're likely to miss is the Avatar, but you can make do without it. You can take Choirs, any exemplar units or solos, and Vassal Mechaniks. The tier 1 bonus cheapens Exemplar Venger units-- putting them at an even two points per model-- and allows you to take two units. Kreoss lists usually tilt towards range, but Vengers make an interesting choice. Note that on the feat turn you can take maximal advantage of the Cavalry rules. Your Vengers have a 13" threat range and can charge right through enemy models, hitting them automatically with impact attacks as they are knocked down. The only things to worry about here are Tough enemies or enemies with high armor, as the impact hits are only POW 10 and any failure to kill arrests your charge. Nothing is forcing you to take Vengers, though, so you can decide whether they're worth the points investment.

Tier II requires Gravus, and gives him and any Vengers Advance Deployment. This sweetens the pot a little, though with their high speed they're likely to outpace Kreoss. That's not good, since the whole point of the combo is for his feat to knock down enemies so they can ride right over them. If the Vengers have to wait up for Kreoss's feat bubble to get in range their Advance Deployment doesn't make too much sense. Still, if you're going for this combo you might as well take Gravus, as he's a POW 11 Weaponmaster that protects your own Exemplars from being knocked over. Since you can't take the Covenant in the tier, he's a decent buy.

Tier III requires two or more units of Exemplars Errant. Since I'd recommend taking these guys in every Kreoss list anyways this is an almost no-brainer tier, though I would recommend one max and one min unit over two maxes. This tier gives your army Pathfinder in the first turn, which is a nice bonus-- especially for the ADing Errants and horses (though your UA unit of errants will already have Pathfinder).

Tier 4 requires two arc nodes and allows Kreoss to start the game with his upkeeps active. This seems like a decent bonus, but it costs Kreoss 5 FOC to set up his upkeeps on turn 1, allowing him 2 to let 'jacks run-- 3 or 4 if he has a hierophant, wracks, or both. And two arc nodes seems like a lot, since Kreoss only has two middling offensive spells.

Overall, I would only bother with the tier if you're going for the Venger strategy. Otherwise, you are restricting yourself from some key solos and support models for little gain.


So let's look at some key model synergies.

Warjacks:
Kreoss loves ranged warjacks. I'd say the ideals are Redeemers and a Reckoner, with the Vanquiser and Repenter occupying the tier directly below them.

Redeemers have a frankly absurd 21" threat range on their missiles, with POW 14 with the Choir buff. They can also shoot up to three times each. Even unboosted, six POW 14s will put paid to a lot of casters, and you can get two boosted damage shots per 'jack-- four boosted POW 14s is likely to kill most non-camping casters in the game. Their only downside is their inaccuracy, being only RAT 3 even with the Choir buff, but that's enough to hit a knocked down model on any roll but double ones. Against DEF 5, RAT 3 is the same as RAT 20.

The Reckoner has only one shot with less range and no AOE, but it makes up for it with melee potency and the ability to protect Kreoss with Ashen Veil. With Defender's Ward it goes up to a respectable DEF 14 against most ranged attacks and ARM 21, which should keep it going for a while. Furthermore, the Flare effect of its gun puts aiming Redeemers up to an effective RAT 7 with the Choir bonus, meaning that even outside of the feat turn they have a chance at hitting the broad side of a barn. The Assault ability means that the Reckoner can do some serious damage in close combat, at an effective MAT 10 if the initial ranged attack hits and doling out some POW 19 loving'. It's an all-around great jack that gets better with Kreoss.

The Vanquisher is another heavy that can perform a hybrid role. Its 4" AOE autofire gun will blow huge holes in Shield Walls and can catch support solos hiding behind warjacks or warbeasts. Its range is a bit shorter, but it focuses more on an anti-infantry role than that previous two 'jacks. With a POW 16 gun and a POW 18 melee weapon, though, it's more than capable of putting some serious hurt on anything. The primary purpose, though, is to punish enemies for grouping up. Even if they ignore blast damage, setting a big chunk of their army on Fire will dissuade them from sticking together.

The Repenter is the only 'jack on this list that natively ignores Stealth. With clever placement, you'll be setting lots of enemies on fire, and you can cleverly target models you can't see using rangefinders (friendly or enemy models you can target that place the spray template over the enemy). This is mostly an infantry clearer, but it's so good at that that it makes the list on that strength alone. It's also super cheap!

Units:
Exemplars Errant are Kreoss's best friend. Yes, they're the best unit in Menoth, but they're even better with Kreoss, who synergizes well with them. Choirs are essential, as Kreoss relies heavily on his battlegroup. Deliverers are sometimes popular, but I personally don't like 'em-- I'll go over them though. Vengers have been covered above. Kreoss also likes Juviah Rhoven and his honor guard, and I have a soft spot for Zealots.

Go ahead, make a Kreoss list. If you did not start off with a Redeemer, Choir, and full Errants + UA I question your dedication. Let's go over some of the ways that Errants rock.
1) They are the perfect targets for Defender's Ward. Their DEF and ARM are both JUST high enough that they can benefit from it. The difference between DEF 12 and DEF 14 is huge-- MAT 6, the average in the game, goes from needing 6s to hit (below average) to needing 8s (above average). Warjacks and warbeasts will need to boost to reliably hit them, massively cutting into the number of attacks they can make. Many infantry units will just bounce off of them. Standard POW 10-12 shooting goes from killing Errants on 7s or 5s to killing them on 9s or 7s-- a pretty huge drop.
2) Quick Work loves knocked down models. One of the biggest flaws with Quick Work is that you can't make a ranged attack while you're engaging or engaged. If the enemy is knocked down, they can't engage or be engaged, and you'll hit with all of your melee attacks, so you'll be making lots and lots of shots. You haven't lived until you've seen the look on the enemy's face when six Exemplars Errant kill a full unit of Rangers and a full unit of Gun Mages.
3) Errants crossbows are Blessed. You don't have to bother Purifying the Arcane Shield off of your opponent's Sword Knights if your shots ignore it.
4) Errants are excellent for locking down arc nodes, as you can keep Self Sacrificing to keep the lockdown model in melee.
Errants are just great in all kinds of ways. Pathfinder and Advance Deployment mean they can lurk in terrain and can shoot up the board quickly, somewhat mitigating their slow SPD. They tarpit like crazy, protective the fragile Kreoss from assassins. They can shoot, they can fight, they're even immune to enemy magic that could drag them out of position or mess with them. You should always, always take a UA-- min unit + UA is better than a max unit. I would recommend just one unit, since more than that is often overkill and without Defender's Ward, Rhupert buffs and a UA they're much less useful.

You should always take a Choir with Kreoss. I'm not going to explain why. Just do it. If you don't know why, you don't play Menoth. He relies so heavily on his 'jacks to get the assassination that +2/+2 is a no brainer.

Deliverers are interesting. At first blush, they're great: a unit of Redeemer missiles! Then reality starts to set in. They're a unit of Redeemer missiles that can't benefit from the Choir and are thus stuck at POW 6 blast damage and POW 12 direct damage. They're a unit of Redeemer missiles that can't boost attack or damage rolls, meaning that they'll bounce in many cases. They're a unit of Redeemer missiles that can't fight in melee like a real Redeemer can, can't get extra shots from the Vassal, and are vulnerable to a whole separate set of stuff. They do have that Rocket Volley, which is neat, but it means you're paying 5-8 points for one shot per turn. Admittedly it can get decently accurate but Kreoss's feat does that anyways. I personally don't like them. They can make it rain templates on Stealthy infantry, but a Redeemer or Vanquisher seems more useful for that, being more powerful and with larger templates.

Juviah Rhoven is key. In addition to providing some melee punch, Rhoven has a suite of useful abilities. Cleanse and Negation are cornercase at best, with Cleanse able to somewhat replicate the effects of Purification without getting rid of upkeeps. Menoth's Sight is the money ability. A large suite of casters such as eLylyth, Deneghra, and Garryth may think themselves safe behind their Stealth, relying on it over their low ARM to keep them protected. A dose of Menoth's Sight on a Redeemer or Reckoner will let it reach out and touch them from a distance. Since these casters typically have low ARM stats, one 'jack can be enough to put them down, especially if they neglected to camp ARM. Make sure to keep Rhoven safe-- Gius and Cassian are expendable, Rhoven's not. Defender's Ward works well on these guys if the Errants are gone.

Zealots are an interesting unit. They're cheap as hell, and like Redeemers they pack extremely high POW and extreme inaccuracy. The knockdown effect of Kreoss's feat can help them hit with those bombs, but unlike Redeemers they're POW 14 blast 8, meaning they can damage a wider variety of targets. They also have crate fire, but that's nothing to rely on. Zealots are mostly useful because of the Monolith Bearer, however, who can render them immune to almost everything for a turn. Combined with their leader's prayer granting them spell immunity, and they can only be damaged by pAsphyxious, Harbinger, Cassius, Old Witch, and Morvahna's feats or by spells targeted at a nearby model. Combine them with Errants for a block of spell immunity. Zealots are mostly useful for jamming up enemies and providing cheap souls to your Reclaimers, but their ability to drop a bunch of POW 14 bombs on your feat turn should not be discounted.

Solos of interest include epic Eiryss, Vassals of Menoth, Exemplar Errant Seneschals, the Covenant, Rhupert Carvolo, Reclaimers, Vassal Mechaniks, Wracks and Hierophants.

eEiryss is key for assassination runs. Kreoss assassination lists often rely on four to six Redeemer shots at POW 14, which will have trouble cracking ARM 20 or higher. eEiryss will strip the Focus right off that enemy, as well as any protective spells he's got, rendering him a sitting duck for your missiles. She won't have any trouble hitting a knocked-down model either. Other than that, she's useful at Disrupting enemy arc nodes, forcing the enemy to come in close and put themselves in Lamentation range. Just make sure to keep her away from your warjacks so as to not trigger her Technological Intolerance.

The Vassal is probably the most important in-faction solo for many Kreoss builds, and I can't recommend it highly enough. In fact, bring two. Enliven will keep your jacks safe until you need them, but Ancillary Attack is where it's at. Six POW 14 missiles? Why not 8? Why not drop two Vanquisher pie plates and set two chunks of the enemy on fire? Why not get two Reckoner shots, Flaring two different targets? For a list whose basic plan is "knock the enemy on their butt and then shoot them to pieces while they're vulnerable" having as much lead in the air as possible is essential and these guys are basically ammo belts.

Exemplar Errant Seneschals are sweet, but they're really only there if you have Errants. Granting Errants Hunter not only gives them an absolutely absurd number of rules, but means they ignore almost every protection in the game: no forests, no camouflage, no concealment, no cover, no spells. Nothing stops their crossbows. With Hunter and Pathfinder they can also ignore forests entirely, charging right across them if you want. They make the central unit in the list better. Why not take them?

The Covenant is a defensive solo, and it's not a bad one. Preventing knockdown makes Tough a better ability (and Rhupert will be handing it out) and it also ensures Enliven will trigger, even after headbutts and slams. Flames of Wrath is also useful for a ranged-heavy list, since even if an enemy survives your shots they will be on fire. Works well on Errants with Quick Work since both their melee attacks and crossbow shots will cause fire.

Rhupert has basically one job in this list: giving your Errants tough. And sometimes +1 DEF, putting them at 15, but mostly Tough. Tough Errants are a nightmare to remove, since even if you crack their 14/18 defensive stats they're still getting a Tough rolls; if they pass it they stay standing (due to the book), if they fail you can then choose another one to die in their stead. If you fail a Tough check, after all, you are still Disabled before you go on to being boxed, so you get to trigger Self-Sacrifice. And since Tough only knocks you down if you pass, if you're outside of the Covenant's range, if you fail a check but Self-Sacrifice onto someone else, you are not knocked down. This is a brutal tar pit.

Reclaimers have a fairly simple job. Kreoss's assassination turn involves handing out a lot of FOC. If you don't want to or can't, you can have a Reclaimer juice up one of your 'jacks. It's worth looking into running this guy with Zealots or Temple Flameguard-- if your only troops are Errants their Self-Sacrifices won't give up souls (since they are technically destroyed by Self-Sacrifice, not an enemy attack-- the same reason it doesn't trigger Berserk, Carnivore, or any other on-kill abilities like Soul Harvester). Include one or not depending on your list.

Vassal Mechaniks are in charge of keeping your guns firing. They also only cost one point, so they're a good list fill. If a Redeemer or Reckoner loses its gun to a lucky shot, you're out of luck unless you have a Menofixer on hand to tune it up. They also put cortices back in action, in case a 'jack loses that.

Finally, Hierophants and Wracks are the generic "focus-extenders." Kreoss's ability to play Focus games with Purification against upkeep-heavy casters (see above) can make these choices valuable. He also wants to hand out as much as possible on his feat turn. Other than that, they're not essential.


Kreoss is more than just a feat on legs, but that feat should be central in your planning. It'll either net you the kill or a turn of brutal damage to your opponent's army. Here's a sample pKreoss 35 point list:

High Exemplar Kreoss: +5
Redeemer -6
Redeemer -6
Reckoner -8
Minimum Choir -2
Full Exemplars Errant + UA -10
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution -3
Vassal of Menoth -2
Vassal of Menoth -2
Vassal Mechanik -1

Total 35 +5

This is a pretty straightforward list. The 'jacks advance with the Vassals behind them and the Choir behind them. Eiryss lurks until she's needed to strip Focus or blast an arc node. The Errants soak up most of the fire. You can drop one Vassal for Rhupert if you find yourself wanting a more stable frontline, but it's not necessary. This list lacks Juviah Rhoven and has trouble with stealth-heavy enemies, but you can make it rain templates to clear their infantry, and the Reckoner is a top-tier melee beatstick. Expanding to 50 points, you can pick up Rhoven and a second melee unit-- min Zealots + UA or full Temple Flameguard. That leaves space for a Covenant, a Reclaimer, and Wracks.

I hope this was informative! Next week I hope to look at either Garryth, pAsphyxious, or Karchev the Terrible.