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Important Interactions for Playing Shenlong?


Nybear

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I just picked up Shenlong and have been listening to the Schemes and Stones episode about him (A few times.) There seem to be a pretty good bit of interactions and rules that wouldn't come up often outside of playing Shenlong and some that seem to trip up even veteran players (Like conditions stacking from multiple sources being able to alter when a condition ends.) So what are some of the essential/ important interactions to be aware of both to optimize Shenlong play and make sure he is being played correctly? 

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Shenlong is definitely not a straight forward Master to use, and it took me a few tries before I really got the hang of using him with some level of fluidity. Probably the best thing you can do is actually get him on the table and start playing games with him. It'll be much easier to see how he works if you take that approach. In the meantime though, here's what I'd keep an eye on;

 

Shenlong is mostly a support Master. He and his peasants are amazing at handing out Focus and Defensive for cheap, His Wandering River Style can turbo-charge his crew and Low River Style will keep them alive. He needs to stay close to his crew but generally he's a second-line fighter, only filling in when you need that extra bit of damage.  

The crew uses alot of conditions, so make sure you've got a good way to record and update those conditions as you go along. If there was ever a crew that needed a tiny white board to record things, this was it! 

Keep Shenlong and the Peasants close together. The former can't use Powerful Chi to make a Peasant Interact (and thus summon a new peasant) if they're more than 6" apart.

On that note, remember that you can't make the peasant interact if he'll place a scheme marker within 4" of another friendly scheme marker. If they can use interacts for something else (like tagging a model for cursed object) then that's fine, but otherwise be careful where that peasant ends up relative to the scheme markers. 

The peasants are mostly there to add conditions to Shenlong or other models with their (1) and (2) actions, but if you can keep one alive for the turn then don't be afraid to throw the other into danger to hold up an enemy model. 

In terms of Conditions, you generally want at least one poison and burning on Shenlong to take advantage of the respective upgrades, with Focus and Defensive added as needed for the Wandering/Low River Styles or simply staying alive/hitting things. If you plan to use actions on Fermented and High River Style then you'll want to increase the poison or burning whenever you can. But you don't usually need to go overboard, and it's not usually worth trying to max out both Burning and Poison. 

Don't stress about Condition removal on Shenlong. Even if he loses all that burning/defensive etc you just built up, it's not hard for him to get it back. 

Whenever Shenlong drops an upgrade, Sensei Yu with Promising Disciple will pick it up. That includes "consumable" upgrades like recalled training too!

Sensei Yu can borrow Shenlong's Monk of Many Styles to swap limited upgrades, but don't use it to take the upgrade Shenlong is equipped with. If Shenlong doesn't have a limited upgrade on him, he can't use Monk of Many Styles.

Start Shenlong with Wandering River Style. He can then use it to push models around and give them fast, then pass Wandering River Style to Sensei Yu. He can then do the same thing, which should put enable you to push and give Fast to most of your crew. 

Generally I'm swapping Wandering and Low River Styles between Shenlong and Yu for the first 2 turns of the game, after which I might give High River style to Shenlong to get in there and help finish off some enemy models. I've not yet tried Fermented River but I'm sure I will at some point, especially once I come across a crew filled with negative flips (or when Burning is a bad thing to have on Shenlong). ;)

 

That's all for now. Hope that helps. :)

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2 hours ago, Rathnard said:

Shenlong is definitely not a straight forward Master to use, and it took me a few tries before I really got the hang of using him with some level of fluidity. Probably the best thing you can do is actually get him on the table and start playing games with him. It'll be much easier to see how he works if you take that approach. In the meantime though, here's what I'd keep an eye on;

 

Shenlong is mostly a support Master. He and his peasants are amazing at handing out Focus and Defensive for cheap, His Wandering River Style can turbo-charge his crew and Low River Style will keep them alive. He needs to stay close to his crew but generally he's a second-line fighter, only filling in when you need that extra bit of damage.  

The crew uses alot of conditions, so make sure you've got a good way to record and update those conditions as you go along. If there was ever a crew that needed a tiny white board to record things, this was it! 

Keep Shenlong and the Peasants close together. The former can't use Powerful Chi to make a Peasant Interact (and thus summon a new peasant) if they're more than 6" apart.

On that note, remember that you can't make the peasant interact if he'll place a scheme marker within 4" of another friendly scheme marker. If they can use interacts for something else (like tagging a model for cursed object) then that's fine, but otherwise be careful where that peasant ends up relative to the scheme markers. 

The peasants are mostly there to add conditions to Shenlong or other models with their (1) and (2) actions, but if you can keep one alive for the turn then don't be afraid to throw the other into danger to hold up an enemy model. 

In terms of Conditions, you generally want at least one poison and burning on Shenlong to take advantage of the respective upgrades, with Focus and Defensive added as needed for the Wandering/Low River Styles or simply staying alive/hitting things. If you plan to use actions on Fermented and High River Style then you'll want to increase the poison or burning whenever you can. But you don't usually need to go overboard, and it's not usually worth trying to max out both Burning and Poison. 

Don't stress about Condition removal on Shenlong. Even if he loses all that burning/defensive etc you just built up, it's not hard for him to get it back. 

Whenever Shenlong drops an upgrade, Sensei Yu with Promising Disciple will pick it up. That includes "consumable" upgrades like recalled training too!

Sensei Yu can borrow Shenlong's Monk of Many Styles to swap limited upgrades, but don't use it to take the upgrade Shenlong is equipped with. If Shenlong doesn't have a limited upgrade on him, he can't use Monk of Many Styles.

Start Shenlong with Wandering River Style. He can then use it to push models around and give them fast, then pass Wandering River Style to Sensei Yu. He can then do the same thing, which should put enable you to push and give Fast to most of your crew. 

Generally I'm swapping Wandering and Low River Styles between Shenlong and Yu for the first 2 turns of the game, after which I might give High River style to Shenlong to get in there and help finish off some enemy models. I've not yet tried Fermented River but I'm sure I will at some point, especially once I come across a crew filled with negative flips (or when Burning is a bad thing to have on Shenlong). ;)

 

That's all for now. Hope that helps. :)

As Prof. Pink already stated, Shenlong is designed to be a supporter. But I find that he has the tools to be one of the most aggressive, killy and resilient masters of the whole game.

Therefore he is harder to master in comparison with other masters.

I can give you following advice:

- Don't Forget to use either his (0) after the initiative flip or use his peasants for interact Actions
- Try to figure out your next move with him. Do you need some specific upgrade on him? Some specific condition? Placement?
- His High River Style is tremendous. 3" Range with Blasts is good. Shenlong gets :+fate easily.
- Burning Chi!!! If you don't need any specific upgrade on him, keep the High River Style. The Burning Chi ability is one of the best things in the whole game.
- I personally don't need Wandering River Style on Shenlong (You should start with WRS on him). It's better on Yu to be honest.
- Fermented River style is...well...really situational (Only had great success against HTW).
- Don't forget his CA Action. It only does 1/2/3 dmg. But it's better against incorporeal models than using his standard attack or Lightning Kick. AND you can steal conditions from your enemy (I managed to steal Joss' reactive in the last game).

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Those two had it covered pretty well, but I'll throw out my two cents:

Fermented River is your attack style. Rg 3 is great, but the min damage is super low on High River. I actually prefer that as my defensive/tarpitting style. Considering a single :-fate is the most common damage resolution, you suddenly are on the upper end of the curve most times when that becomes a :+fate. Don't forget that you can cheat down with low cards that may have been useless, to avoid the straight flip if you want to dig for better damage. if you happen to get that :+fate on damage (rare but it happens) just take the :-fate flip and shrug because that's the most common outcome anyways. You really need to try this style to see how effective it really is. Guaranteeing mod to severe damage on almost everything you successfully hit is ridiculously good. Hard to Wound, or models like Cassandra and Yin, just cry at this ability on a master. It makes your opponent not want to cheat mid-low range cards though, because it only helps you to put you on negatives, so be wary of them keeping a full grip.

This isn't a rules interaction per se, but just some friendly advice: don't forget to walk Sensei Yu. He can't push anything if he's still in deployment. I tend to try to fast and push him with Shen first turn, then have Yu push two other models, both get fasted, and he walks.

Peasant's can sac as a 2AP action to give a free 0 action to Shen Long. This is really important to remember for three reasons: it allows stance dancing mid turn, can give him some conditions at a critical moment (such as the defensive for condition tech on low river), and (if he has wandering river style) you can force a 0 action interact by pitching a focus. Good tools to keep in the ole toolbox, and the latter is an interaction that doesn't come up much, but could be really beneficial in certain circumstances.

Don't forget you can throw other stances on Sensei Yu. And also don't forget about his melee attacks granting conditions. This can be interestingly useful at times. Of note is the Low River Style, where you can heal Shen Long while building up his burning and poison. Same with the monks of appropriate style. Also, I believe you can hurl a low river heal on a topped up enemy, just to remove their fast for instance, then give them slow. And the trigger can still hit a buddy. Someone fact check me on timings? Does the resolution of low river trigger before or after his condition application?

These last two notes aren't on specific interactions with Shen Long, but as it only happens in a Shen Long crew, thought I would add this in. Think it's in teh schemes and stones, but for those that haven't listened to it:

Shadow Emissary. His 0 action on shen long's upgrade removes conditions, which is great in and of itself. But it can be used on your own conditions too and it grants a number of cards equal to the conditions value max of 3. This is most notoriously used on the low river monk who can focus 3 for a 0ap and a 1ap action. Then walk. This nets you three extra cards a turn potentially for 4ss. 

Also, the Low River Monk gained a lot of utility with their new wave 4 upgrade, and I'm never disappointed in their performance. I ran them a lot before jsut for condition removal (even just to bop a peasant's slow off) but their ranged heal that drops a scheme marker is INSANE with Shen Long. Give it a shot!

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