Ice Golem bad?

[decker_cky]

1 hour ago, MetaphoricDragn said:

I dug out my arcanist cards and started to look through them again.  I admit the melee expert and min 3 damage do make the ice golem appealing (I often paired with a metal Gamin)

I don't tend to take 2 expensive models though, so I also wonder Arcane Emissary vs Snow Storm.

My impression of Rasputina lists has always been that you start with two big models and the wendigo (generally two of the following: emissary, snow storm, myranda/blessed, mech rider, and ice golem), then fill out to need with other frozen heart models. 

[Wifstrand]

2 hours ago, MetaphoricDragn said:

I dug out my arcanist cards and started to look through them again.  I admit the melee expert and min 3 damage do make the ice golem appealing (I often paired with a metal Gamin)

I don't tend to take 2 expensive models though, so I also wonder Arcane Emissary vs Snow Storm.

 

Or Ice Gaming to make the Golem's min damage 4.

[decker_cky]

But 3 minimum damage isn't really outstanding compared to the competition.

Emissary has a 4 min on the charge and a 2 min that triggers burning, plus an 0 for an additional 2 damage ignoring everything. 

Snow storm is min 3 damage. 

Blessed is 2 min damage, but the triggers mean it often does more damage (not to mention coming with the speed to engage the targets you want to).

 

What the golem does special is:

1.) Auto trigger slow

2.) Toss

3.) Melee expert

4.) Cool model

 

Those are the key factors in favour of taking the golem. 

[Jordon]

The only other somewhat useful tactic in favour of the golem is that he makes a decent blast battery for Raspy. Since he has armour +2 and abysmal defence, she can quite easily get to a strait or positive flip when targeting him with her decembers curse without having to burn her hand, saving those high cards to generate blasts. It still does significant damage to the golem, but he can at least take a few hits this way before going down - in which case he explodes doing more potential damage. 

I've used him this way before but it's not what I would consider every game tactics. It's really only good if there are lots of models around the golem but are not engaged with it.

[Bengt]

24 minutes ago, decker_cky said:

But 3 minimum damage isn't really outstanding compared to the competition.

Emissary has a 4 min on the charge and a 2 min that triggers burning, plus an 0 for an additional 2 damage ignoring everything. 

Snow storm is min 3 damage. 

Blessed is 2 min damage, but the triggers mean it often does more damage (not to mention coming with the speed to engage the targets you want to).

He still have more total weak damage than all those though thanks to melee expert (9). And sure the Blessed can potentially do more since there is no cutoff on the trigger but you would need to flip/cheat three  high enough to hit to surpass the Ice Golem... The Emissary wins on the charge though if you count Flesh and Metal since it has 8 total weak itself.