Additions to Reva?

[gozer]

Currently I'm running The Mercy of Death box set and Bete (love her!), however I'm not sure where to expand from here. I use the Guises of Death (long range) upgrade as that appeals to me more than the charge shenanigans of Beyond Death. However, I wouldn't be opposed to giving Beyond Death more attention with the right suggested model set up. 

I tested out Canine Remains with little success - their corpse creation is just too costly. I also gave Killjoy a whirl for the guaranteed bury delivery with Corpse Candles but that failed due to lack of activations and fodder models.

A few others I've considering adding are: Yin, Izamu, Gaki or Draugr when they release.

I've seen suggestions for a Nurse + Chiaki combo but that just doesn't seem as useful as is for other masters due to Reva's survivability and range. I've also seen Belle suggestions and at the risk of understating their usually obvious value, I don't see how Luring things closer to my Reva back line is terribly helpful.

Looking for other ideas! Thanks!

[Fetid Strumpet]

For Reva specifically? Use Carrion Emissary.

[Clement]

Rotten belles are also good if they are being shy about entering your corpse field.

[gozer]

Carrion Emissary? I'm so confused. What about the Emissary's abilities lend themselves to Reva's playstyle? Does the Emissary even get a Reva-specific 0 point upgrade?

Most of the Emissary's affects are targeted specifically towards Undead - which for Reva's box means only Corpse Candles.

I'm really curious how this is meant to work...

[daniello_s]

6 minutes ago, gozer said:

Carrion Emissary? I'm so confused. What about the Emissary's abilities lend themselves to Reva's playstyle? Does the Emissary even get a Reva-specific 0 point upgrade?

Most of the Emissary's affects are targeted specifically towards Undead - which for Reva's box means only Corpse Candles.

I'm really curious how this is meant to work...

At the end of the turn summons Mindless Zombie aka additional corpse marker which Reva loves above all. 

Not to mention Emissary adds +1Wk for your models within 6''.

[Fetid Strumpet]

Reva doesn't need a good conflux to want to take the carrion emissary. I personally wouldn't hold my breath for a good conflux either. The emissary is good enough with her people ignore the free upgrades and actually put upgrades you have to pay for on him. That to me says she shouldn't get anything more than a flavorful coaster for her conflux.

 The shards produce zombies which are mobile attack nodes for her as well as activations. Several builds of Reva can focus on minions which allows the carrion conflux to make her minions even better. It also offers ranged beater support and scheming support via its attack and ability to turn corpse markers into scheme markers.

I don't think the emissary is auto include though it is very useful for many Ressers, but it's pretty much auto include for Reva I find.

[gozer]

Ahhh! The info I had on the Emissary was outdated. Thank you!

[Terwox]

Archie.  Leap, then throw your leap upgrade at someone, drop a corpse next to them, then charge them.  Then Reva lays into them.  (Kills most things, lots scarier if they have armor defeating stuff near Archie.)  Might require a Belle or two if you're playing someone hanging back.

You can also just focus/shoot w/ Archie early, and hang back to protect Reva.

[Fetid Strumpet]

Personally, I find Archie to be too expensive for what he brings for anyone but Horror Molly. 

[osoi]

For me as said previously its the Carrion and possibly Phillip and the Nanny plus something small to scheme (Dog, Necropunk, Crooligan) I have also been looking at a Nurse and Doxy too.

[Rabbitknight]

Yin's debuff really helps make Reva tick. 

I'll second the Carrion Emissary.

I'll also propose Anna as an addtion. She can take advantage of Yin's debuff, dealing min 3, and can summon Mindless Zombies at the same time. She brings Rush of Magic, which is always nice. She even helps keep models away from Reva's back line. 

At this point I would drop Vince, and pick up Litanies, possibly Decaying as well though it's really not that terrible to make your opponent stone to prevent, it still consumes the resources, and with the amount of Min 3 available they'll go fast.

[Wifstrand]

Yin with My Little Helper is the the bee's knees for me. MLH helps draw an extra card (since Reva wants to discard one per turn), and gives her an extra shot at getting Gnawing Fears off during that one crucial turn!

 

The Carrion Emissary is, sadly, an auto include for me too. That one free zombie is totally worth it, and I give him MLH too. The extra card during a key turn is worth it for me, and 2x Shards when you really need it is nice.

[Kogan Style]

I have run Anna and Archie with Reva with some success. The gambit is that Anna buries Archie (using a soulstone for  to give the shieldbearers fast too) and then you can pop a Corpse Candle when required to release Archie up the field to lob corpse markers/upgrades  and deal damage up close and personal. 

The negative is that the enemy can kill an out of place model first and Archie is stuck, but turn 1 this doesn't tend to happen (unless its a Candle, which is what you wanted anyway) 

 

[DoctorWhat]

On top of Yin, the Carrion Emissary, and other suggestions, I'm going to suggest Sebastian.

Half of the stuff you're taking has the infect trigger and it will come up. Seb is consistently able to put out 3-6 damage per turn and with Those Our Not Ours! it gets more fun.

Once per turn (or more with My Little Helper for a single turn), pitch a card to summon a Corpse Candle, then grind it or a Mindless Zombie (you'll have plenty thanks to the Emissary) to get another card, a soulstone, and a corpse marker. He can even summon Canine Remains off of those markers if you have the resources to spare. 

[Paddywhack]

6 hours ago, Kogan Style said:

I have run Anna and Archie with Reva with some success. The gambit is that Anna buries Archie (using a soulstone for  to give the shieldbearers fast too) and then you can pop a Corpse Candle when required to release Archie up the field to lob corpse markers/upgrades  and deal damage up close and personal. 

The negative is that the enemy can kill an out of place model first and Archie is stuck, but turn 1 this doesn't tend to happen (unless its a Candle, which is what you wanted anyway) 

 

Hmm. I had not thought of this little tactic. I might try this with both Reva, but also with Yan Lo. Izamu up the field from a Night Terror could be very fun  

Reva might get better positioning with it though with her Corpse Candles. I will have to try this. 

[Fluffaluffacus]

Datsue Ba. Datsue Ba. Datsue Ba.

[benjoewoo]

I wrote a guide, and it's buried on some later pages. I wouldn't say I'm a Reva expert, but there are a number of people's collected thoughts there. 

I echo the suggestions for running emissary. As you get more familiar with Reva, the emissary is good because it can cover for poor positioning with the shards of kythera action. I generally run My Little Helper (MLH) because the turn you pop it, you can really put a hurt on your opponent's efficiency by effectively blocking off a wide lane of traffic or multiple smaller lanes. The shards can be placed, meaning no LoS required, touching terrain, so if there's a bottle neck, you can place the markers so that they completely block off LoS and/or movement through. The only restriction is that you cannot have the markers touching other models or markers, which is a very light restriction compared to many other masters.

At higher levels of play, the additional corpse nodes from the end of turn Mindless Zombies as the game goes on plus terrain restriction can really play a large role in your game, especially in tournaments where your matches may not reach a Turn 4/5. Turn 2 MLH double shards has won me multiple games because my opponent's beaters, and in one case master, could not get to me that turn as a result of the shards. The extra summons also supplement Reva's relatively poor summoning options.

A lot of people like Yin with MLH to give Reva auto-hits. I haven't found it to be effective enough to be auto-include, and I don't like Yin with Reva because other than Yin's 0, nothing really supports Reva. Yin can't stone for fast tricks with shield bearers, can't move very fast with Wk 4 flying not withstanding, and Reva is a cannon that often works best by eliminating a lot of your opponent's crew to set up mid game scoring, which Yin can help with, but not as well as other 8 SS options, upgraded models, or even weaker minions that can set up Reva more consistently than trying to hit with a 0 action against Wp. Yin can be good, but if you don't own her, I wouldn't purchase her as the auto-include for Reva.

The most "auto-include" I would go with is Datsue-ba. If you only have the Reva box and Bete, you're running shield bearers, Vincent, and Bete. Pre-upgrades that's 34 SS. Assuming you have all available upgrades (which should really be your first purchases before any additional models imo), you can put 5 SS in upgrades on Reva (either limited upgrade, decaying aura, litany of the fallen), 2 SS in upgrades on Vincent, and 1 SS upgrade on Bete for 43 SS. If you get Datsue-ba and run MLH on her with Spirit Whispers (the one that gives her a 0 to summon Seishin), you have 53 SS in hires. Drop 1 shield bearer to go to 47 SS, and you have a 50 SS crew with 7 SS starting in your pool. It's a versatile list given model limitations and won't require you to purchase too much--both generalist decks (~$20-$25) and Datsue-ba (~$10-20 depending on if you buy a used/new metal model or the plastic one). 

Bete is good because she gives you a good damage option that plays on good probability (one discarded card for 3x Ml 6 attacks with plus flips and triggers on every suit), while Datsue-ba gives you versatility in fast tricks with shield bearers, activation control, minor healing, and surprise movement manipulation with her alternative 0 to move shield bearers. MLH on Datsue-ba is amazing to move shield bearers 20" in one Turn or summon a seishin and give fast to generate 3 AP for 2 SS (1 SS for Spirit Whispers, 1 SS to stone for a plus flip to give out fast to 2x shield bearers).

There'll be plenty of tricks for minimal investment, and as you fine tune your play, you'll expand into models you find fit you better or give you better options.

As an added thought, I wrote the above not knowing what you own, so I assume you own only the box, bete, and canine remains without any of the arsenal/generalist decks. 

If you own belles, I sometimes use them when I want to run another henchmen/enforcer and need to scrimp SS somewhere. Belles will often have 6 Wk from the Emissary's aura, making them decent scheme runners when they're not luring stuff. However, don't fall into the "must have Lure" trap--when running blood mark, Reva's threat range is > 18", meaning she doesn't need a rotten belle Lure in most deployments. If you run Guises of Death and your opponent has two models just outside of 8" from the candle you summon, you're guaranteed to get a first strike with Reva if they don't kill your candle first or they don't somehow move all models almost within 8" away. Belles are nice, but not nearly as necessary. I would be comfortable running a belle and nurse in a game over 2x rotten belles.

Hope that helps!

[verpixelt]

5 hours ago, benjoewoo said:

meaning no LoS required

The card of the Carrion Emissary specifically states:

Quote

Place two 50mm Shard Markers touching each other in range and LoS 

Quote

other than Yin's 0, nothing really supports Reva

Thanks for writing all that down. I have to disagree on Yin not being helpful to Reva except her 0 action. Yin is an unbelievably good control model. Terrifying all(12), minus flip on attack and dmg against Yin herself, slow trigger on her melee and both triggers on the cast. Especially the built in trigger can lock down a model(yes not completely but it limits the options quite a bit) close to one or multiple corpse markers which can lead to increased dmg with Reva or Mindles Zombies popping up next to the locked down model to further keep it in position or out of other locations. Also outside of Reva, may it be McMourning, YanLo or Molly, Yin is definitely a model worth buying.

[benjoewoo]

My mistake on misreading Carrion Emissary's placement effect--I recently started with Raspy and hers is different in that regard. 

I agree Yin can be good. She's one of my favored enforcers for Seamus for multiple Wp duel options. However, the triggers you're describing are not built in iirc. She has built in infect on the melee, but I don't think she has her triggers built in on the Ca action. 

Also, her melee track is 2/3/5 iirc, which isn't bad, and it'd be slightly above average if it's 2/4/5, with her Ca action being similar I think--I haven't played her in a while and don't remember her card very well. She has decent attacks with potentially useful triggers. But, I don't think they're enough of a reason to take her as an auto-include, because the opportunity cost seems on the high side considering Reva often plays with a 5 card hand--one card saved to summon a candle. Reva's high cards generally go to ensuring Reva hits things, and Yin doesn't play particularly well on probability compared to similarly costed models in addition to not offering particularly strong synergy with Reva beyond the power points of Yin's model. Yin can be a good control piece in certain match ups, but I don't think she's a particularly effective generalist to buy over Datsue-ba and arsenal decks, assuming the OP doesn't own anything beyond the box, bete, and canine remains. Crews that have plus flip tricks, e.g. Guild, only have to really have to worry about Terrifying 12, which can be a pain, but if they get past it, Yin doesn't really hold up too well for her 8 SS cost with what is effectively HtW. She has her place in Reva crews, but not as an auto-include imo. 

I see using Yin for the 0 in a Reva crew as similar to running Vincent primarily for his 0 and MLH--for an upgrade slot and 2 SS vs. 8 SS in hiring, I can duplicate Vincent's 0 near permanently with two upgrades for Reva's activation--it's not as good, but I'm paying 25% of Vincent's cost, letting me get a belle, nurse, or spring for another, potentially more effective model with the spare 6 SS.

[Wake of Godzilla]

I've been enjoying Anna with Reva, the board control and extra card have been a big help.

After that a scheme runner such as Necropunks or Crooligans have been good.

[verpixelt]

17 hours ago, benjoewoo said:

However, the triggers you're describing are not built in iirc.

No Escape: After damaging, the target gains the following Condition until the end of the Turn: "No Escape: This model may not take Walk or Charge Actions."

@benjoewoo This one is built in on her Ca.

[verpixelt]

@benjoewoo reading your last post again I think it comes down to play style(which is great). A built in movement restricting trigger on her casts, a possible trigger to change placement of your opponents model with the second trigger (not built in) (enemy models get neg flips against Yin, so leaving that close combat again is relatively easy) a possible double 0 for neg flips on Ca/Wp with MLH, and the terrifying all(12) makes her to one of my core pieces. But then again I rarely play Reva with only 5 hand cards so your mileage may vary.

 

@all
To not make this whole post only about Yin (even though she's so pretty :P) I love to have good ol Philip and the Nanny in my ranks. Card cycling, her 0 upgrade shooting (again against wp, looking at you Yin), walk of 6", Manipulative 13, has the spirit characteristic (synergises well with Revas Bloodmark), ... etc. I could go on her why that model is so great  but just look at her card

[OracleToronto]

@verpixelt i'm glad you said that because I love Phillip and the Nanny and really hoped they worked well with Reva.