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How to learn and expand Rasputina


mirparx

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Hello,

I'm a new player, actually learning  with Neverborne.

The fate put in my hand a few arcanists models :  

Rasputina box

2 December acolytes

This is tempting me to try it, also because in my group there are too many Neverborn/ressers, but I have some doubt/question :

- Is there some essential model missing?

- How to expand this crew?

- is it my impression, or arcaninst models that fit well with a master are not so fitting it the other? So few exchangeable pieces between different masters?

Tanks a lot

Mirko

 

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There are quite a few models that are usable with many masters, and many master that can use their models quite interchangable.

Rasputina is not one of those. She can use some models out of her theme, and other masters can use her theme models quite effectively, but she is better off mostly sticking to theme.

With her box and the acolytes, she is playable, but a bit inflexible. Good additions are Snow Storm, Silent Ones and Ice Dancers, in that order, IMHO. Later you can add the Arcane Emissary, Blessed, and the Arcane Effigy. Also, now that she has a summon upgrade, some scrap marker generation (Mobile Toolkit + Joss/Large Arachnid or a Union Steamfitter) may be a direction to go.

It is possible to go out of theme with Raspi, but I would recommend sticking to it for the first time, and branching out once you get the hang of it.

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For Raspy you want Frozen Heart first and foremost as pointed out.  With her new Book 5 upgrades she has really got some new options, in particular the Ice Gamin and Ice Golem summoning option is huge, especially for the Golem.

You really need..

  1. December Acolytes because they are just that good, one of the truly powerful all-round Arcanist minions and FH as well makes them 11/10 for the Ice Witch.
  2. Snowstorm is a solid henchman who brings good things the Raspy.
  3. Ice Dancers are really necessary for Raspy to bring much needed speed and scheme running.
  4. Blessed of December is a useful and fast hitter with a bit of 'everything'. A common, if slightly cheesy, option is to bring Myranda (from the Marcus box) and shape change into the Blessed.
  5. The Silent Ones are useful but they are really Raspy lite and increase what she does well while not adding something really different like the FH models above, however with the heal and other abilities you rarely regret taking one.

Quite a few other Arcanist models which you can take, a few mercs as well.  All could be useful but as pointed out Raspy does really well within her theme, the FH models are most first class and they all help Raspy a lot.

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Rasputina was my second master and I initially bought snow storm and blessed of december.

Snow storm is quite a ss investment for your crew but you get so much work out of her. I've actually taken her in every game with rasputina so far.

Just her (0) 8" place on frozen heart models is so great. 

Next, I bought december acolytes, they're just too good. It seems like december acolytes, silent ones and to a lesser extent ice dancers are models that can work really well with other arcanist masters, so there is some stuff that you can use with others. I've so far never felt the need to include non FH models, though arcana effigy seems really strong with her.

I've felt that rasputina is fairly strong, and surprisingly flexible through her choice of upgrades in combination with her choice of crew. Also, rasputina can be a nightmare for low defense models, and crews that have a lot of incorporeal models. Rasputina is also the only blasty master I play and blasts can be really strong to bypass defenses as well. For example you can blast your own ice gamin to and make them blow up for another ping of damage, or you can target them to spread paralysis to stuff you don't want to deal with. I'll gladly spend an ap per turn to paralyze the opponents big beater model (which often have low df).

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6 hours ago, mirparx said:

Thanks a lot for your replies!

 

Another question, is Rasputina strong/populr choice in the arcanist faction, or is she less used/less performer than other masters?

Raspy tends to have a pretty static game play and isn't as versatile as some other masters like Sandeep so she doesn't see as much high level play. That being said, she's a powerful denial and killing master when things go her way.  Her new upgrades might changes things for her, but my initial instinct is that they won't make much difference in the long run. My Raspy crews tend to be pretty much the same each game I play her (85% win ratio with her in tourney settings).  

Rasputina (Shattered Mirror, Cold Nights, Resevoir)

Wendigo

Snow Storm (Armor of December)

Arcane Emissary (Elemental Conflux)/ Myranda(imbued energies) / Mech Rider

Silent One

December Acolyte/ Ice Dancer

Ice Gamin

Arcane Effigy

Wendigo will often be dropping a second Pillars early in the game. Emissary, Raspy and Snowstorm are the main damage dealers. I will bring in Myranda to a Blessed if I need mobility killing and Mech Rider if there just has to be scheming or if I'm worried my Frozen Heart Nodes will be cheweed through too quickly. Though usually I don't bring Raspy for scheme based strategies. She's great for Reckoning and Actually good for Guard the Stash especially if your ice pillars can block off your opponent's ability to get there.

I bring her a lot vs Ressers and will sometimes switch out Shattered Mirror for December's Pawn to Joker fish against all that hard 2 wound. I like her vs Karai as she can pop ice pillars and deny loS to Karai so you don't have to worry about Ikiro popping out on top of you.  

As to her new upgrades, I haven't tried them yet so I can't comment but they don't fit my playstyle for Raspy so I doubt I'll see much of them. 

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I found that the emissary is the single biggest boost model to Raspy specifically and would recommend it highly. It's ability to act as a mirror while engaged is massive if your playing the ice mirror build. It also is allows her to use her (0) attack action through it which is usually a very difficult ability to pull off through mirrors. It also comes with it's own way to pull frozen heart models from engagements which while not as good as snowstorms, it's still a big deal. It's basically a vastly superior version of the ice golem.

Outside of that I would have to say ice dancers are extremely valuable and offers Raspy some much needed scheme runners. They are of course dependent on the scheme pool but even as super mobile ice mirrors they are still great hires for her.

 

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I didn't actually think about this before, but the new Frozen Servants summon is a cast, and as such can be Ice mirrored. That gives her a much greater summoning range that anyone else in the game I think, and actually makes summoning an Ice Golem on someones face a distinct possibility, especially mirrored through the Emissary.

 

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Also needs to be said for at least the next few months...

Regarding power level meta the Book 5 master upgrades, including Raspy's will shake things up quite a bit.  Looking at things I doubt it will have a huge impact on Raspy as being 'slow and static' she still essentially will be but the new upgrades look like they will add some nasty options.

I suspect that it will take a month or two to shake things out and I also think Raspy will remain a solid mid-range option who runs well with inexperienced players and presents a challenge to 90% of opponents.  Raspy's crew (with FH) is hard to neutralize (immune to horror is a big deal) and with her raw spell power she can lay down the hurt hard, her crew is also largely very good, the FH models with one exception are all very solid in there niche and the exception (Ice Golem) is still deadly if hard to optimize and now can be summoned with an upgrade.

Rasputina is mid-tier as she is a bit slow and not hugely durable not to mention her primary attack vector is obvious but she's got a superb durable crew which adds both speed and flexibility.  So I imagine she'll stay super-competitive mid-range.

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10 minutes ago, Joachim said:

I do that a lot. Wendigo is so strong, he's a minion and significant with wk6, that's already pretty amazing, but dropping 4 ice pillars can really mess up an opponents crew.

I do love that Rasputina has a personal Malifaux Child with Significant and Devour (especially in the Gremlin matchup).  IMO if you're taking Wendigo (which you should), Cold Nights becomes basically mandatory.  Although now the Wendigo summoning Ice Gamin on 10:tome's could definitely be nice with Frozen Servants too

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Yeah I pretty much rate the wendigo as the best totem in arcanists and never leave home without it in a Raspy crew. It will almost always be worth the 3ss just based on stats alone.

It's almost a bit sad since I do actually find the essence of power to be most effective with Raspy as well since her ability to stay still and use Ca actions works amazing well for the essence (same goes for silent ones). However it just doesn't compare to the wendigo so it unfortunately doesn't make the cut most of the time.

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11 minutes ago, Jordon said:

Yeah I pretty much rate the wendigo as the best totem in arcanists and never leave home without it in a Raspy crew. It will almost always be worth the 3ss just based on stats alone.

It's almost a bit sad since I do actually find the essence of power to be most effective with Raspy as well since her ability to stay still and use Ca actions works amazing well for the essence (same goes for silent ones). However it just doesn't compare to the wendigo so it unfortunately doesn't make the cut most of the time.

can't agree more.

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3 hours ago, retnab said:

I do love that Rasputina has a personal Malifaux Child with Significant and Devour (especially in the Gremlin matchup).  IMO if you're taking Wendigo (which you should), Cold Nights becomes basically mandatory.  Although now the Wendigo summoning Ice Gamin on 10:tome's could definitely be nice with Frozen Servants too

And as Cold Nights and Frozen Servants are not limited they can be taken together so it provides the flexibility to perform either action.  While I imagine summoning Ice Pillar's is much preferable in most games (notably as its simply less resource dependent) I can see occasion for the little furry Gremlin eater to pop out the odd Ice Gamin when the opportunity presents.  I now need to check the wording of the respective card, can he do both in a single activation??

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8 hours ago, Mrbedlam said:

My Raspy crews tend to be pretty much the same each game I play her (85% win ratio with her in tourney settings).  

Very impressive tourney record w Raspy.  I don't hear about that too often, and I personally find her so tough to play when opponents bring top tier masters.  What's your secret?

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10 hours ago, SevenThirtySeven said:

Very impressive tourney record w Raspy.  I don't hear about that too often, and I personally find her so tough to play when opponents bring top tier masters.  What's your secret?

Keep in mind that's WHEN I play her in tourneys. I will only bring her out for specific match ups and that is normally board/faction determined. If the board has crazy amounts of choke points and its Squatters, Guard or Turf, I will take Raspy and the opponent has a very very bad day. 

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