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Yan Lo: Resser or 10T?


WWHSD

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I accidentally bought the Yan Lo box the other day because it was cheap ($17) and Ashigaru look cool. Is there anything he does better in Ressers than in 10T?

 I don’t know if I have enough of either faction to field him, I’m just trying to figure out what to keep my eyes open for deals on.

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I have focused on him recently, but still learning what's good. My impression is that he can work with almost any crew - I am even thinking of poison themed Yan Lo crew with gasser and shikomes.

Currently my crew composition process starts with Yan, Porter and Datsue Ba with MLH (cheapest way to get two seishin on turn 1). Then I add whatever I want.

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Currently, he is better in TT than in Ressers. Terracotta Warriors can change his 1 Chi Ascendant Upgrade for Recalled Training every turn and Chiaki can transfer ancient protection from herself to him. In Ressers you have one great thing, which are Belles and Doxies, and one good addition in form of transfering Dark Shroud from MLH Chiaki to him. However, I'd wait for Undying Encounter box, as it seems it is going to be in Yan Lo theme (maybe some Retainers/Ancestors).

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Less flippantly:

The difference between Yan in Res and TT comes down to upgrades and in-faction models (shocking).

Ultimately I feel TT give Yan more options as an aggressive beater, and Resurrs provide better options for defensive play where Yan's support role shines. These differences aren't hugely substantial in my mind.

Going into a bit more detail, I'll focus on what I see Resurrs bringing to the table.

Chi generation through flack summoning

A caveat: I am not a subscriber to the idea that Yan needs blood ascendant turn 1 every game at all costs. 2x chi turn 1 is necessary, but beyond that i'd rather be taking a crew geared for the mission and positioning it optimally to set the game going the way I want it.

Seishin: The most efficient way to generate early chi is with summoned seishin (1 mid card = 1 extra activation + 1 chi). The ability to take Datsue Ba + spirit whispers (+ MLH) as well as goryo gives Resurrs great crew building flexibility to achieve this whilst building for the objectives. 

Mindless Zombies: Resurrs have great options for keeping up activations to keep the chi flowing. Carrion emissary and Asura Roten, and presumably gravedigger, can help generate a lot of annoying and easy killed zombies that satisfies Yans appetite for all you can eat buffet into the mid and late game. 

Yan's upgrades

Basically Resurrs generic upgrades don't do as much for Yan as they do in TT. My 'Beast Mode' Yan (brutal kak, necrotic preparation, unnerving/decaying aura) never worked out for me in the old days. Currently I prefer to run him upgrade-lite (always take Awakening) and put the stones into the crew. This feeds into his support role.

Lightning dance is a godly ability. With less demand on Yan's AP for getting stuck in and attacking, there is more to put into the dance fest. As the models Yan like to take have specific strengths and weaknesses, and more so in Resurrs than TT I would argue, getting the right match ups is super important. Lots of nice big bases around in resurrs now, looking at you again kentauroi

Getting slightly further into the weeds - with (hopefully) a steadier supply of chi, its is entirely possible that, instead of going apeshit with blood ascendant, it becomes more attractive to use transcendance and fury of yomi more to buff the crew (incoporeal and hard to wound love armour) and get more attacks/interact/markers over a wide area. I find this is a high skill floor and ceiling ability, meaning that it is potentially very strong, but also very difficult to set up in such a way as to reduce risk of it going wrong sufficiently.

Lure

Resurrs lack the range dmg options available to TT. However, we are the kings/queens of luring. This speaks greatly to Yan's more defensive game play - we can bring the enemy to us and don't have to expose Yan so much, or play catch up with his generally slow moving ancestors and retainers.

Not that new Resurr Yan can't be mobile. Datsue Ba with MLH, and the soul porter can move Izamu 12" before he activates. Kentauroi are also pretty big for getting Yan's crew upfield. They give us a hilarious new Gracie delivery system, but more practically consider that you can really claim ground with the ashigaru 'no charge' aura now, get Toshiro to the action etc.

Unnerving Aura pit

The upgrade Unnerving Aura becomes dangerous when spammed. Essentially put the upgrade on 3 chunky models and overlap the auras for 3x2 dmg every time an enemy model starts and ends its activation in them. Izamu and Yin are good choices as in theory they are tough, have large engagements and are hard to run away from. Adding Jaakuna Ubume is important - huge engagement, extra damage from hazardous terrain, hard to disengage, and lure put this formation online. Add graveyard spirit for extra durability and nurse for extra dng/control as per preference. As mentioned above, lots of lure and lightening dancing really helps set this up.

Spirits

Resurr Yan has access to a wider variety of spirits and spirit synergies than TT Yan. This translates to more flexible vectors and beneficiaries of adversary and fury of yomi without having to use transcendence. Shikome are the main resurr-specific models we are looking at here. Philip, drowned get overlooked, there are potentially good things that can be done with them, lampads probably have their uses, hanged tend not to be hired, and who cares about gaki and night terrors. Datsue Ba and Vincent St Clair provide good spirit support and 8ss henchmen are where it is at in gg18 (yah boo sucks to you TT).

Those are my thoughts for now

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So it looks like chaff spam and Lures are really what Resser Yan Lo has going for him. Datsue Ba, Asura Rotten, and Toshiro are potentially all good henchmen to bring along if I'm wanting a lot of disposable troops to through in my opponent's way hoping for Chi. Is taking more than one of them a good idea (Yan with all 3 of them leaves about 20 soulstones which probably isn't a great idea)? Are the other models to look at for this? 

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Starting with the dual faction stuff is definitely a safe place though.  That way you're still open to going into either faction down the road if anything else in either faction starts to interest you.

Toshiro, Izamu, and Yin, as stated, are all solid Yan Lo picks in both factions.  In rezzers he can really be more of a surprise than anything.  For example, if your opponent expects Nicodem and you bring Yan Lo, they might be in for a bad time.
 

49 minutes ago, WWHSD said:

So it looks like chaff spam and Lures are really what Resser Yan Lo has going for him. Datsue Ba, Asura Rotten, and Toshiro are potentially all good henchmen to bring along if I'm wanting a lot of disposable troops to through in my opponent's way hoping for Chi. Is taking more than one of them a good idea (Yan with all 3 of them leaves about 20 soulstones which probably isn't a great idea)? Are the other models to look at for this? 

 

I don't think you need more than 1 of those, and more than 2 would be overkill. I'd do Toshiro and Asura personally, but honestly any combination of the 2 could be fine depending on the pool.

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I would recommend Toshiro as a good early buy as he can buff your minions, can be re-summoned if you want to go that route, and he can summon Ashigaru, helping you recover from early losses. I'm finding Yan Lo less crew specific any more though as he can support a wide range of models and, with enough Chi, become quite a good beater now.

I recently started taking Sun Quiang, who can also be taken in either Resurs or TT, and I have found him to be a great addition. He adds another reliable healing option, can mess with enemy models, has a potential to give out Slow in an Aura, has Don't Mind Me (huge bonus), an aura to turn enemy models into Peons, and has a lot of WP attacks. I've been teaming him up with a Rogue Necromancy so he can keep him above half health and then try to activate Smell Fear each turn.

I do always take the Soul Porter. If your enemy does not have condition removal you can be very aggressive with him near Yan Lo to get extra Chi. His attack has a Ca6 and 3" range and every time you damage an enemy you can pass Chi +1 to any friendly model. Obviously you want Yan Lo, but you could give it to a Belle, Doxy, or any other Ca heavy model (mmm Yin....). My Soul Porter charges every chance he can get. 

Otherwise I find I can take just about anything with Yan Lo - he supports well and can easily go off on his own if needed. 

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14 hours ago, thatlatinspeakingguy said:

Interesting. I consider Ancestral Conflux being a dead upgrade in post-Wave 5 meta. Do you still use Brutal K. with Yan?

No. I usually try to be optimistic, but given it never really did much work for me before (and i used it in pretty much every game), Brutal k seems dead, a shame. Both Emissaries are still top end models, that yan can make fast every turn and resurrect in addition to all the other utility they bring.

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