Pandora

[Primarch]

Hey all.  Just getting back into the game and I have the following masters;

 

Pandora

Hamelin

Ophelia

Kaeris

I think I'm going to focus on 2 of them for now, Pandora and Hamelin.  Having said that, I have the old metal box set for Pandora, which I think is the same as the models in the new plastic box.  Haven't decided if I want to grab the plastic models, but I do realize I need to add some stuff to the crew.

 

My local meta is;

VonSchill

Lillith

Rasputina

One guy has all the Rezzers

Sonia

 

What would you add to the current crew to be effective, and what changes would you make depending on which other master I face in our weekly games?  Any strats or tactics also very welcome.

Thanks in advance!

[Ludvig]

I think both Sonnia and Raspy are pretty hard counters to the thematic Pandora crew so I'd go for neverborn hard hitters. Not sure what the top filth is but others may have kept up to speed. Graves used to be nice for his mobility and decent attacks. Doppleganger is a great toolbox model. 

Read up on misery and freikorps suits so that doesn't become an issue, can't remember how they interact but they may be a pretty hard counter to a thematic Pandora playstyle as well.

Pandora can play pretty independently, her old playstyles based on her two different limiteds are still viable I think. Have you considered how you would want to run her in terms of the upgrade playstyles? Getting the app Bad things happen and all the cards for about 10 euros is probably a good first investment.

[Primarch]

Those are on the way, that will give me a better idea on what to do moving forward.

 

[Durza]

On Pandora vs Friekorps misery is an aura so the suits can't ignore it, the weirdest interaction i can think of is if you use inflict they won't take the 1 damage from failing the duel as it's a pulse, but will still take any misery damage. 

Personally I've found in games where you need to be close stacking as many passive duels as possible a lot of fun, take fears given form, Barbaros for his challenge aura, the Autumn knights for their "activate and take a wp duel" ability and Tannen for his cooler aura and your opponent will very quickly find themselves without a hand. Throw in the Mysterious emissary and start copying those abilities for extra hilarity. 

[Ludvig]

How could I forgrt Barbaros. So much fun!

[I'm a Teapot!]

To be honest: Pandora has such a high skillcap and many ways of being played effectivly that if you invest enought time she can handle almost anything. 

I've had games vs Sandeep and 3 mages (Who all ignore Misery before their activation due to arcane shield) and a lot of incorporeal ignoring stuff and still won. 

Pandora has a lot of things that are really really good in this game:

- Activation controll

- Passive dmg

- Armor ignore 

- lots of 1 dmg pings vs soulstone users

- powerfull controll options (Paralyze, (-) to wp duells against terrifying etc.)

- anti charge defense

- good defensive stats

- pretty versatile crew options

 

[Primarch]

58 minutes ago, I'm a Teapot! said:

To be honest: Pandora has such a high skillcap and many ways of being played effectivly that if you invest enought time she can handle almost anything. 

I've had games vs Sandeep and 3 mages (Who all ignore Misery before their activation due to arcane shield) and a lot of incorporeal ignoring stuff and still won. 

Pandora has a lot of things that are really really good in this game:

- Activation controll

- Passive dmg

- Armor ignore 

- lots of 1 dmg pings vs soulstone users

- powerfull controll options (Paralyze, (-) to wp duells against terrifying etc.)

- anti charge defense

- good defensive stats

- pretty versatile crew options

 

58 minutes ago, I'm a Teapot! said:

 

Awesome, I like that.  Would you suggest some lists I can put together?

[I'm a Teapot!]

1 hour ago, Primarch said:

 

Awesome, I like that.  Would you suggest some lists I can put together?

So it depends if you want to play box pandora, paralyze pandora, or summoning pandora.

Box and paralyze pandora tend to have very open crew choices and summoning pandora builds on misery synergies.

I'm mostly playing summoing pandora at the moment because I love how misery gives the enemy bad choices and ignores most defences. 

My crew looks like this:

Pandora

- Woe is me

- depression

Lilithu

Doppelganger

Mysterious Emissary

Lust/Barbaros/Thorn

Aeslin/Sorrows/Iggy

 

In some pools Aeslin works really well (setup, dig their graves) and I've learned how much value a claw attack attacking willpower provides in a pandora crew with a lot of misery. Also his anti lure aura is really good in schemepools without the requirement to move forward. Charging someone for 3 atks vs wp with a few sorrows around really really hurts. Also opposed wp duells are pretty one sided in woe is me crews, since once the first enemy has fallen you can have the priority targets at (-) to wp pretty easily with the poltergeist.

I've used barbaros less and less because my opponents tend to remove him really quickly because they know how much of a problem his challenge aura can be.

Lust can be brutal if the game favors larger fights (Supply wagons, Ply, ...) and sometimes additional sorrows speed up the whole misery engine.

Iggy is a more defensive Option and I bring him when I feel like there will be a lot of pressure on pandora and she needs his matyr aura and the emissary can always copy it to protect her aswell. 

Upgrade wise I'd consider aether connection, if I decide to bring the cheaper variants of the models I listed, because I want a bigger cache with it. 

In ply for information I like to bring Fugue State and sometimes, when I feel like its going to be one big fight bubble (cause of terrain or supply wagons) I like to bring Cry for me, because it can really devastate bunched up enemies. 

 

[Primarch]

Since you can't get the Wave 1 Arsenal anymore...what's the best way to get a hold of some of these cards?

 

[-Loki-]

9 minutes ago, Primarch said:

Since you can't get the Wave 1 Arsenal anymore...what's the best way to get a hold of some of these cards?

 

Generalist Upgrade decks 1 and 2, and the Master Upgrade deck, contain all of the upgrades for all factions and masters that don't come in a box. So grab those 3 and you'll have all upgrades she can use.

[Primarch]

2 minutes ago, -Loki- said:

Generalist Upgrade decks 1 and 2, and the Master Upgrade deck, contain all of the upgrades for all factions and masters that don't come in a box. So grab those 3 and you'll have all upgrades she can use.

For the model cards as well?

[-Loki-]

4 minutes ago, Primarch said:

For the model cards as well?

No, model cards only come with models themselves or are bought individually from Wargamesvault.

[Primarch]

On 2/8/2018 at 10:36 PM, -Loki- said:

No, model cards only come with models themselves or are bought individually from Wargamesvault.

Awesome, ordered them, thanks again!

 

[le_sphinx]

On 07.02.2018 at 5:24 AM, I'm a Teapot! said:

In some pools Aeslin works really well (setup, dig their graves) and I've learned how much value a claw attack attacking willpower provides in a pandora crew with a lot of misery. Also his anti lure aura is really good in schemepools without the requirement to move forward. Charging someone for 3 atks vs wp with a few sorrows around really really hurts. Also opposed wp duells are pretty one sided in woe is me crews, since once the first enemy has fallen you can have the priority targets at (-) to wp pretty easily with the poltergeist.

Now I see how I underestimated autumn lady Aeslin before! I bought only Titania with Tooth, but now I definetely need to grab Aeslin as well. The synergy with Pandora is amazing. Especially I like her abilities to put markers = much easier "dig their graves" for Pandora.

 

Also yesterday I played Titania versus Nicodem with max "lure" list (belles x3, sybelle, necropunks x3, crooligans x2 and buffs with minor summon from Nico). Ohh guys I almost cried, because I don't own Aeslin

[-Loki-]

Aeslin has more to offer than just a that targets Wp. Rot and Rend has two, potentially three triggers that Woe is Me Pandora likes. A Crow makes the target discard a card or gain Slow, which Pandora can use to place a Sorrow. A Mask is a kind of Lure, pushing the target 6" towards Aeslin (with positioning, into some Misery bubbles). A Tome places a scheme marker in base contact with the target, good for following up to kill for Dig Their Graves.

Bound and Rooted is really good for one of Pandoras most notorious foes - Zipp. His attack that targets height can't be resisted with Wp, and it lets him really badly reposition Pandora outside of her support.