Ulix - Outdated in wave 5?

[GrumpyGrandpa]

I am really struggling to see Ulix work as a solid master in current games. Even in schemes that seem to favor him, he seems to be beaten beforehand by others. One of my theories are that his favored companions are too much of a liability. An example of this would be his Piglets or Warpigs, that have a below average WP, and are very risky to use against models that target WP (which feels like a lot these days)

I've had a lot of successful games, but he feels more easy to counter than other masters.

Am I being paranoid or?

[PolishSausage]

The struggle that Ulix faces  playing a pure melee centric force.

This could have been mitigated before with 6 stuffed piglets allowing you to seize activation control turn 1 and 2 without having your sow or mayor shot off the table.

Honestly, what Ulix is missing is a hybrid between Lenny/slophauler/whisperer that is a 50mm Pig in a single package.

At this moment you suffer from too much support bloat 10-20 stones minimum that sits back and cheers.

[Dogmantra]

I like Ulix quite a lot. He's probably in my second favourite slot right now out of all the Gremlins (Som'er is still my fave). I think he got a pretty good deal with the new upgrades (although he was already quite starved for slots... Sammy will be an even more appealing pick now). I think he does suffer a bit and has done since GG2016 first introduced new schemes because what piglets were absolutely amazing for was the Distract family of schemes. The ability to move 8" and then interact is really good for that type of scheme, although sadly they were generally considered too easy and were rebalanced (and to be fair I think that they are much more sensible now). The low Wp can be a big deal, but you can partially mitigate it through Old Cranky and Liquid Bravery (and if it is not a big deal, you are generally playing with an advantage - pigs have pretty decent defenses for their cost other than Wp). He can also do some really nasty tricks - I once faced a crew that had Gracie in my facie on turn 1 and it was only a lucky initiative flip and some good damage flips from a Lightning Bug that managed to stop her really destroying me.

Really I think that Ulix's biggest weakness is lack of a non-summoning option. I don't know if others have managed to make it work, but I certainly haven't. I have tried before to play without Husbandry but I really don't see the point. For 1AP and a 9 he can make a profit of 1 stone and if you're doing that then you might as well summon a few more Piglets and a War Pig or two and oh you're playing summoning Ulix. And on Som'er there are sometimes arguments to not take Family Tree and summon for the same 1 stone profit. You need the suit and you might want to Do It Like Dis for a ram turn 1 or you might not bring any Bayou Gremlins (unlikely, but you might not), but with Ulix what else are you doing turn 1? A crew with no 50mm pigs isn't really an Ulix Crewlix at all, and that's all you need. But idk, it really feels like he other summons or waits for opponents to come to him and goes wild prodding.

I really wish Ulix's emissary upgrade had given it the Pig characteristic. I think that it's reasonable for it to not have Gremlin & Pig by default (even though both legal sculpts contain both a Gremlin and a Pig), but Ulix's emissary upgrade is really underwhelming and giving it the ability to be healed and prodded and shot in the rear wouldn't really have been game breaking but it would have given him a bit more variety.

[GrumpyGrandpa]

I very much agree with your view on both the scheme changes, and his very 1-dimensional playstyle. I was personally hoping for the two new upgrades to change his kit, and maybe sacrifice his summoning potential for a new playstyle.

I'm still surprised that Ulix's Emissary Upgrade doesn't apply the Pig Characteristic. If anything, Ulix’s new upgrade (Throw Your Voice) might have been a bit more attractive than it is now – At least from my point of view.

Now, I really don’t think Ulix is a bad master. I do however feel that he is one of the more easily countered masters that we have.