Nukemouse

I don't have the Rogue Necromancy, only Izamu so this may not be the best of advice, but i think the Rogue Necromancy might be the better choice. Izamu is very hard to kill and very dangerous, but his goal is to lock enemies down in his engagement, which isn't super useful to some of the ranged pieces you might take and won't do quite as well for setting up your abomination as Montresor and belles might. The Rogue Necromancy has smell fear, so Levi's attack (or any of the many horror duels levi's hiring pool can access) will cause him to get a free hit on an opponent, plus if you are randomizing between RN and the target you can make him take the attack anyway, so hes a better choice to randomize than most. The Rogue Necromancy will also benefit greatly from healing provided by the Freikorps Librarian to help maintain those he gets at above half wounds.

I am not suggesting Leveticus is terrible, i am asking that you stop misrepresenting his offensive capabilities and mobility. His survivability is heavily tied into his crew, he is no more difficult to slay than Perdita with Francisco or dreamer with... well anything nearby him. He is hard to kill, but not so much that it should be considered impossible to balance around. Other masters cannot ignore all of these defenses at once, but they make up for it by doing more damage before those abilities come into play and by having other abilities than just pure damage. Perdita, Sonnia, Somer, Ophelia, Lynch and Reva would be the prime candidates i would point out among ranged masters. Seamus can use his ability multiple times per game and most often does unless playing a Bag of Tools build, which makes him certainly very different to Levi in goals and playstyle. Mei Feng doesn't need to do her movement at the start of a turn and can set it up how she pleases and thanks to scrap markers (which there are many tools to generate in her available factions) will always end up with significantly more choices than Levi in where to travel to. Comparing a scrap marker to a hollow waif is a joke. It's not unreasonable to complain the grass is greener after someone pours gasoline on your lawn and burns it. Levi is hardly the only master in need of help, but he has the special honor of having been intentionally brought down to this level. Ranged attacks are at a significant advantage to melee models and if there is any cover on the board people will use it. Its not that the entire board needs to be covered in it, its that all models that matter will be placed either in engagements or cover by a savvy player unless the model has some reason to not fear ranged attacks. Its not that using cover is an attempt to cuddle perdita (she can ignore it anyway) it is that perdita and those like her are balanced around the assumption the board will have plenty of cover to use. Ranged attacks do not have significantly lower damage in general, i don't know where you got that impression, they are on average very close to melee, they just lack the huge spreads some of the 10+cost melees can give.

If there isn't enough soft cover on the board for everything you want to target to be in it, the terrain probably hasn't been set up fairly. Doing a reliable 8 damage isn't some special thing only Levi ever had access to, many masters do that much or more just as reliably if not more so, in some cases dealing more and in most cases also being able to do support through auras and zero actions or control through triggers. Please stop telling this joke about Levi's amazing mobility. Mei Feng has amazing mobility, Zipp has amazing mobility, Seamus has amazing mobility, Levi has the okay ability to stand next to an existing model.

I have never tried Hunters with levi, but that's only because in my opinion Hunters are pretty bad. I suppose considering their glass cannon nature they might be decent targets for Rusty's reactivate though, after all the things that could attack them have activated you could reactivate them. I don't think A&D needs help being unkillable, unless you are up against someone who ignores armor he already is. I don't think the appropriate fix to Levi if there is going to be one is to return him to his damage dealer state, since that would cause people to resume whining about the same problems. Reva, Seamus and Rasputina already bring similar tricks to him in a damaging area anyway.

Well then we need to cuddle the Crossroads Seven, since they could unpredictably show up at any time! Thanks to Jack Daw, Tara, Hamelin and Killjoy there's actually a very good chance to encounter undead already in Outcasts so the only real change is you might see more constructs. Frankly most people have a good idea of what their opponent owns and likes to play to begin with so it doesn't tend to be a balance concern outside of paper theory and even then its rather trivial since this game isn't balanced around hard counters, but rather your ability to go for the objectives. I don't believe this game is ever even close to decided at listbuilding unless one player has taken an all around bad list, not just a bad one against his current opponent.

I had been thinking more along the lines of maybe using multiple weaker constructs, to provide easy scrap for Alyce to use every turn for Abominations instead of alternating between creating and using scrap.

Don't forget Jack Daw's crew and the riders! Perhaps I'll be called crazy for this, but I'd kinda like to see Pariah of Iron and Bone removed from the game and replaced with one upgrade that lets you only hire Levi's Theme crew, the riders, undead and constructs, but NONE of the other outcasts and no mercenaries! I mean killjoy etc would be okay, but i mean like no performers or Lust or whatever, no actually using the mercenary function. That way he picks between normal outcast and crazy hiring pool, but at cost to his access to other models like Johan, Sue or whatever. Speaking of which what M&SU constructs work best with Johan? I never thought about it before but Levi can take them to give him the solidarity bonus, plus he could heal them i guess if you are taking more than a few. @aquenaton Unfortunately its not that simple, since your Waifs are very vulnerable and even if you hide or protect them they need to be near your other key models, which the enemy can simply kill, move or bury instead of the waif, which they will likely do since eliminating a key model from your crew is pretty normal and worthwhile without trying to mess up the foe's master. Levi can really only pop out to places he already has a model at, either to sacrifice or to anchor him, so his mobility and his "surprise" factor are not very high compared to other masters.

A large hiring pool is only a "big advantage" when it enables some kind of crazy combos or access to models that become overpowered outside their normal hiring conditions. There are indeed some cool combos in the game but Leveticus is hardly the only person with access to these kinds of combos through hiring pool tricks or simply using in-faction combos, especially since the other "hiring pool" and combo masters get to add their own abilities into the list of synergies and combos. Also where does this "can't score assassinate" idea come from? If he's buried at the end of the game he counts as dead and your opponent scores assassinate. Anyway, we've seen a little discussion on the combos available to him, like being the only master that can use Teracotta Warriors with outcast upgrades, but what other combos do people like to use? I don't mean stuff like taking the Mech Rider because its a good model, there are lots of good models in every faction and having access to a few more to fill the same roles your faction can already fill isn't that exciting, i mean stuff like Watcher/Lazarus, Metal Gamin+Teddy or some kind of trick using a Draugr to give out those spirit upgrades to an outcast model.

Pardon but how would Jack Daw's 0 push himself? It pushes models in a pulse around him, it doesn't work on jack himself.

Bigger they are only works on JD's melee doesn't it? I generally use his ranged one so he can place himself around the battlefield or curse a model he isn't engaged with. Plus it targets WP instead of DF.

Couldn't you make use of Samurai in this case with Favor of Earth? They would be very hard to kill, can blast your enemies with their fancy gun or use run through to get up close to Rusty Alyce for a strike, then reposition. I suppose the problem is Levi will hit them pretty easily with their low willpower.

There are many different synergies between models, but here are some of my favorites in Rezzer. Nurse with McMourning, the nurse can give an enemy a huge debuff but also +2 Armor, and McMourning ignores armor! Jaakana Ubume with the drowned. Jaakana Ubume can lure models in to an aura of hazardous terrain, whilst the drowned can make hazardous terrain more deadly or push models into it! Crooked Men and Rotten Belles. Crooked Men are slow moving, but can paralyze foes who get near them, which the belles can lure the enemy into using their abilities. Crooked Men can also make your scheme markers dangerous for the enemy to touch and once again the belle can force the enemy to do just that!

I would think again about Molly, she can play a spirit summoner herself and gets great use out of the seamus box. Your other choices look great!

Seamus can summon Belles or Dead Doxies. If you get Seamus his models are useful for many other masters, especially Molly who is a summoner. Molly can play well with either horrors or spirits (giving either black blood, so Lilith can get mad at you), and Kirai is a spirit master. So Seamus > Molly > Kirai could be a good way to go with masters, picking up good models inbetween. Some good models include Izamu, who is a powerful and tanky melee who doesn't let his enemies escape his engagement easily, he is a spirit and i think he goes very well with McMourning. Shikome, spirits that fly over and rip people up and excel against poisoned targets, which Kirai's ghosts can spread or you can use your McMourning stuff to spread. Anna Lovelace, a nice lady that prevents enemy models from ending push or placement effects within 8 and has a ranged attack that doesn't randomize into melee with minimum 3 damage. I personally started the game with many matches of McMourning vs Dreamer and i don't think its too bad a matchup since McMourning can turn all those weak little nightmares into flesh constructs or canine remains. Seamus is a good choice though because his rotten Belles will help against many different types of enemies and Sybelle is a very solid henchman, so after him you can easily branch into any other master and use his crew box.

What do you think Anna Lovelace will bring to Asami?

Hanged are spirits AND play well with Seamus thanks to his aura reducing willpower. You will get much mileage out of them with your choice of masters.

I could definitely see Belles using it, but i think Flesh Constructs will be one of the big things to use alongside this, thanks to their strong triggers and ceaseless advance will easily trigger thanks to abomination simple duels, access to a large pool of terrifying models, hodgepodge causing discard or slow on his attack and the high incentive for foes to cheat against levi's difficult to mitigate attacks.

Spirits for campaign? Well i suppose Datsue Bae is the natural henchman choice then. Anna Lovelace can summon seishin for you and provide many amazing tricks and denials, i took her as my starting henchman in a campaign, got the "lead lined plate" or whatever it is that's +1 armor after my first match and then dominated the following games thanks to Anna being near invulnerable and deadly at every distance!

What are the best ways to take advantage of Anna Lovelace in a Von Schill crew? Is she worth it? I can't figure out any real way to take advantage of Mindless Zombies/Seishin she creates, plus the hodgepodge emissary already makes non-randomizing ranged attacks very accessible to the Freikorps. Could she and Hanna lead to some kind of strange bury list alongside void wretches and the scion of the void or aionus? After looking over her card again i noticed she can cause Horror Duels in a pulse, and of course our pal Von Schill is a master of those! The Freikorps Specialist can bring another horror duel, the Emissary lets us use Von Schill's deadly shirt rip every turn, Montresor can lower enemy willpower and spook the living along with Ama No Zako, Killjoy is very spooky and Hannah can copy any of the horrifying abilities or use her own! Obviously taking all of these isn't really an option, but could Von Spook be a viable crew?

I should have asked the Levi player at a tourney i went to today what his list was! Don't think he won his levi game, but could have got some new suggestions for this thread. Not exactly Levi exclusive, but has anyone tried using the hodgepodge emissary to give an upgrade to Ashes and Dust? Monkeys Paw could let you reactivate ashes and dust which would be pretty scary or dont mind me so that he can fulfill his role of "unstoppable scheme runner" even further! The large number of Abominations Levi crews can make would also give Hodgepodge plenty of targets to push and drop scheme markers with, providing pretty deadly setup potential. The + flips to minions could work quite well with many of the cheap constructs, undead or abominations Levi tends to bring as support for his anchors. Hodgepodge Emissary with some flesh constructs could make for great anchor potential at a rather low cost, leaving room for hordes of minions the hodgepodge could buff, plus flesh constructs have enough HP not to be bothered by Levi randomizing and hitting them, so they could actually use the actions he gives them. I don't like the changes but I'm not giving up on him yet! I just have so many new models to play with there's no time for Levi.

I think this strategy would be very effective against the guild, save for one potential flaw. Papa Loco. Kadeton points out that ranged crews are going to be the weakest to this and Guild focus on ranged the most, but one can imagine if Papa Loco were taken he blow your entire crew up!

Wyrd opened that bag of worms, not you. Besides in a thread about playing him after the errata the errata is sure to come up. Levi should also be thought of as somewhat like Seamus, considering he has access to some degree of similar tools to him. I think they play more similarly than Levi and Reva. Speaking of which, Belles can be taken by Levi and have obvious synergy with Montresor and the Desolation Engine. They can also help to bring enemy models out of cover for Levi to charge or just more easily hit. As an Outcast Leveticus also gets cheaper access to Aionus, who could give the Belles fast for not particularly high cards, helping you maneuver them or get more lures off, though I'm not sure Aionus is worthwhile for that, are there any low cost models Pariah of Bone or Iron can get that would really benefit from fast and don't normally have access to it?

Well guild doesn't give out that many conditions do they? Chiaka would help against Sonnia i suppose. I can see a second Belle being a strong choice, or a Crooked Man to fling poison and resist shooting attacks, plus he can paralyze people who go to the guard the stash markers with his melee attack. I'm not entirely certain Rafkn is the ideal choice here especially for show of force. The Valedictorian, Izamu the Armor and maybe Jaakana Ubume would be able to threaten the stash markers more effectively in my opinion.

Well Montresor can help bunch up the enemy crew and reduce WP for people like the nothing beast and killjoy's terror aura. I think he would be useful.

Yeah Levi has been somewhat inappropriately Cuddled. His listbuilding trick is rather overvalued, as is his "kill two minions instead of 1 master" trick, his strength came in low but reliable damage. That said his listbuilding is fun, he does get free activations from his waifs and his abomination summoning is very strong against minion heavy lists and those that like 0 actions. Personally i play him towards that goal of replacing enemy models with abominations and occasionally getting a charge in to brutalize something. I personally starting the game with Rusty Alyce and the Desolation Engine. The Deso can be terrifying with rusty's reactivate as it can heal back the damage it takes and both rusty and Levi can provide new abominations for it to reform with, leaving it a constant threat on the board. I like to fill the rest of the crew with models i think do well against the opposing faction or fit the schemes particularly well, especially since i have a large ressurectionist collection. Peronsally i hope Levi can get something of support in a new upgrade or something, particularly because his "reflect 1 damage" ability and his ability to discard a card to add 1 to it simply don't come up or work well with his card right now. It would be much better if he could hand out this trigger to his other models.