Killjoy as a beater

[psychogeek123]

So I like to fill particular roles in my crews. One such role is a mele beater. Currently this role is filled by either A&D, Ama no Zako, and Rusty Alice (at least for mele damage). I am considering adding Killjoy as I tend to crutch on A&D and he is one soulstone cheaper. My normal masters are Hamelin, Parker, Misaki. Can I get some opinions and feedback on him? how well does he function in most crews? I know he is part of the rat-bomb strategy but what about in other crews? Do you think the other two crews can get good use out of him?

[Cedar]

Killjoy is great addition to almost any outcast crew... maybe except Misaki since she has possibility to hire Ototo. You can start game with him being buried, so just wait for an opponent to kill your master and then pop killjoy- you just swap one melee beater with another.

Our fat buddy is very reasonable choice for Hamelin- not just for rat bomb- you can obey him to perform very deadly attack. Using useless toy on stolen or other expendable model gives you cards fora cheating fate or using gorge.

Parker likes heavy beaters- he can use no witness to grant Killjoy another attack or push him out of melee so he will perform (1) AP charge. Since your enemies will try to kill him with one-two models, using "you were told to duck..." gives Parker nice option to shoot multiple models with single action. 

I'm hiring Killjoy about 95% times when I play Hamelin (for me he is more important than Emissary or even Nix) and sometimes with Misaki, but for Parker I prefer Strongarm suit or Lazarus plus some decent melee models like Ronin.

[Starrius]

I was looking at Killjoy for my Hamelin crew but in the end I went with the desolate engine instead while the impact can be less at the beginning, as getting him into position can be a pain, but I've found the desolation engine can more than pay for his cost with pulling out more abominations to recombine after it dies and it has a inbuilt heal on damage. Also when it is finally killed you then get 2 more models which helps for activation control and forces even more AP usage from the opponent while you do your schemes or bring out the other forces

 

This could also be because I like rusty alyce a lot in my Hamelin that makes Desolation engine feel better for my list.

[CapnBloodbeard]

I find it way too hard to justify 14SS these days...........Outcasts already suffer enough from being out activated (unless you're running Hamelin), and it's a massive cost in a single model.   Lately I haven't felt like he was great value for money - and the low df does mean he'll go down fairly easily from a model with a reasonably high damage output

 

I only like to use him for those schemes where I need to kill the enemy master or some such.  That way it allows me to be a bit more reckless - just push my master all the way forward and have a go at killing the enemy target.  If I fail and get killed, who cares?  So he's an insurance policy in those schemes.  But given I'm normally outactivated anyway, I'm not comfortable with holding 14SS off the table (15, because he'll probably have oathkeeper) for a fair chunk of the game. 

[Freman]

I've only played three games with him, but my view is that he isn't very good. He can dish out damage, but he dies pretty easily when concentrated on, and he is expensive.

Desolation Engine or Ashes and Dust are much better choices in my opinion.

[WhoEvenIsAli]

I don't think it has been mentioned but Killjoy with Tara can be good fun, the fact that you can use Tara to unbury Killjoy where ever you like is a lot more consistent than relying on your opponent on killing something and can help with positioning. 

The fact he also starts buried can be a positive too as you can use Tara to dish out Fast to the rest of your crew without having to worry about the Glimpse of the Void trigger and give her reactivate. Then wait and watch how your opponent moves their crew up the board then run up and deliver Killjoy accordingly. Using a Malifaux Child as a second node to unbury Killjoy is pretty fun as often your opponent doesn't expect it.

On Killjoy himself I can understand the argument that he is expensive but if your aim is to use him wisely and murder your opponents lynch pins in their crew then I feel he is very effective at doing so. In regards to how effective he is at killing other models I don't think I have ever used him and he hasn't made his Soulstones back. Plus the positive that your opponent can't simply ignore him so he's great for Frame for Murder and allowing your other models time to complete/work towards the Strategy and other Schemes. 

[Fopp]

On 12/29/2016 at 5:09 AM, WhoEvenIsAli said:

I don't think it has been mentioned but Killjoy with Tara can be good fun, the fact that you can use Tara to unbury Killjoy where ever you like is a lot more consistent than relying on your opponent on killing something and can help with positioning. 

I agree, Killjoy has some innate synergy with Tara, but you have to make a judgement call on whether you want to pay the extra SS for him over a Nothing Beast. I'd usually prefer to have Nothing Beast + an extra scheme runner  over a Killjoy.

Killjoy and Hans have some expensive tricks as well. It's not impossible to have a turn one Hans ditch scout the field, focus, then take out an enemy lightweight, immediately throwing 750 lbs of Killjoy into their face when they're out of position. Its an expensive trick though, usually costing about half your available ss. 

Edit: I'm a hack! Killjoy doesn't even work that way! I was thinking of Bete.

Edited December 31, 2016 by Fopp
I was wrong

[Seadhna]

8 minutes ago, Fopp said:

I agree, Killjoy has some innate synergy with Tara, but you have to make a judgement call on whether you want to pay the extra SS for him over a Nothing Beast. I'd usually prefer to have Nothing Beast + an extra scheme runner  over a Killjoy.

Killjoy and Hans have some expensive tricks as well. It's not impossible to have a turn one Hans ditch scout the field, focus, then take out an enemy lightweight, immediately throwing 750 lbs of Killjoy into their face when they're out of position. Its an expensive trick though, usually costing about half your available ss. 

Except Killjoy only unburies off a model in your crew dying