Dead Rider - tips and tricks?

[Maniacal_cackle]

The Dead Rider is one of our premiere versatile models, so it seems like a good idea to discuss him a bit!

I've just ordered mine so don't have too much to contribute yet, but thought we could start a discussion. What are people's tips and tricks?

Some of my first impressions:

• Ride with me is obviously one of the major reasons to play any rider.
• Reap seems massive, being able to move an ally an extra ~8 inches on turn 1 (2 engagement range + 4 inch push + ~2 inch base). However, you take a 3/4/5 hit for your trouble. Perhaps viable on necrotic machine or experimental crew.
• Since the rider can charge and reap, his potential movement for a turn is... Astronomical.
• I'd imagine he combos well with fast (sloth or transmortis?)
• Everything in revel seems good, although very oriented for killing.
• He seems semi* squishy turns 1/2? So best to be a bit careful if you plan for him to live.
• That said baiting your opponent into killing him early may actually be useful at times.

What is everyone else's thoughts?

* edit only semi squishy. His defensive stats are actually quite high!

[thewrathchilde]

17 hours ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

 

• I'd imagine he combos well...... Transmortis 

Albus can only make him Fast if he has an upgrade which makes him really expensive..... and Albus cannot put a summon upgrade on him since he isn’t Transmortis.

[newsun]

3 hours ago, thewrathchilde said:

Albus can only make him Fast if he has an upgrade which makes him really expensive..... and Albus cannot put a summon upgrade on him since he isn’t Transmortis.

Expensive yes, though it does give some survivability and speed... Check this fast all the things

 

Fast Times At Schtook High (Resurrectionist)
Size: 50 - Pool: 6
Leader:
  Prof. Von Schtook
Totem(s):
  Research Assistant
Hires:
  The Valedictorian
  Dead Rider
    Grave Spirit's Touch
  The Forgotten Marshal
    The Whisper
  Undergraduate
  Undergraduate 2

[Maniacal_cackle]

1 minute ago, newsun said:

Expensive yes, though it does give some survivability and speed... Check this fast all the things

 

Fast Times At Schtook High (Resurrectionist)
Size: 50 - Pool: 6
Leader:
  Prof. Von Schtook
Totem(s):
  Research Assistant
Hires:
  The Valedictorian
  Dead Rider
    Grave Spirit's Touch
  The Forgotten Marshal
    The Whisper
  Undergraduate
  Undergraduate 2

Possibly a good list if not playing with second masters, but at 13 stones you have to at least consider a master instead.

Depends how badly you want Ride With Me.

Also I wonder if Dead Rider is already fast 'enough' (can move what... 23 inches turn one, bringing two others along? Or one other a vast distance)

I'm curious about revel. Are people doing it much, or are you spending all your fate on reaping and defense?

[newsun]

48 minutes ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

Possibly a good list if not playing with second masters, but at 13 stones you have to at least consider a master instead.

Depends how badly you want Ride With Me.

Also I wonder if Dead Rider is already fast 'enough' (can move what... 23 inches turn one, bringing two others along? Or one other a vast distance)

I'm curious about revel. Are people doing it much, or are you spending all your fate on reaping and defense?

Fast is another ap it's not always about speed. This may mean Rider rides then 3 attacks min 3.

I don't think double Masters is balanced so currently don't consider it.

[Maniacal_cackle]

@newsun, by all means, try it out and report back! Sloth just feels so much more efficient given the upgrade requirement on VS, but I've been wondering how Rider would fair in Transmortis.

[Morbius]

I like Emmisary in Trasnmortis. Can lay Whisperer on him for more reliability on his blasts and also to get fast. With Sloth in crew I'm normally popping 4x fast models out turn 1. Not to mention the extra +1 speed that stacks with the assistant. So speed 7 on Vale.. with fast .. 

[Griautis]

Biggest value he gotten me in Molly games was actually Ride with me to put molly forward, walk forward, charge something, Reap and push backwards placing the thing closer to the crew and then having Archie jump in and smack the poor target. This works especially well because Molly can outactivate the opponent so there's no activations left, which usually means that start of turn 2, you've deleted some model from the board, and have archie/dead rider ready to smack more face. 

[Ogid]

13 hours ago, Morbius said:

I like Emmisary in Trasnmortis. Can lay Whisperer on him for more reliability on his blasts and also to get fast. With Sloth in crew I'm normally popping 4x fast models out turn 1. Not to mention the extra +1 speed that stacks with the assistant. So speed 7 on Vale.. with fast .. 

Lol. Standard undead vs Transmortis undead

 

[Graf]

There is one thing I wonder about the Dead Rider. He's often mentioned as one of our good versatile models, but I rarely if ever see it included in crew lists. My question therefore is: When do you actually put him on the table? What are the deciding factors for you that warrant his usage? Especially in comparison to the Emisarry, which seems to be much more common. 

[Maniacal_cackle]

1 minute ago, Graf said:

There is one thing I wonder about the Dead Rider. He's often mentioned as one of our good versatile models, but I rarely if ever see it included in crew lists. My question therefore is: When do you actually put him on the table? What are the deciding factors for you that warrant his usage? Especially in comparison to the Emisarry, which seems to be much more common. 

I'll be taking him in Molly crews regularly, and will try him in McMourning since I am short on Kentauroi. Also would be keen to try it in Transmortis, especially alongside Sloth.

[newsun]

I've run a bunch in Molly. He's part of the triad (Rider, Archie, Manos).

 

I also plan to try him in trans once I get this crew. One issue I have with him is we have a lot of 9-10ss models who do much of what he can making it feel 1-2ss extra. I was considering a df6 list with Doc him and emissary as the base. Kirai does not really need him and she's got a lot of play by me. Yan, he's often got a solid in keyword base that mostly leaves room for smaller scheme runners etc.

[thewrathchilde]

On 12/7/2019 at 5:22 AM, Graf said:

There is one thing I wonder about the Dead Rider. He's often mentioned as one of our good versatile models, but I rarely if ever see it included in crew lists. My question therefore is: When do you actually put him on the table? What are the deciding factors for you that warrant his usage? Especially in comparison to the Emisarry, which seems to be much more common. 

I regularly take the Rider in Molly in order to get the taxi service- usually for the Necrotic Machine or Molly to speed them up and get the Machine in position to be my teleport anchor instead of having to use Molly, Archie, or the Rogue for the far anchor.

I have played him in some Yan Lo crews as well; primarily in Reckoning and then it was in games where I could't proxy in Gokudo. Not that the Gokudo and Rider compete with each other just that in my crew without Gokudo I am closer to having the points for the Rider. 

Seamus crews are one of the other keywords were I pretty religiously take the Rider. They work together really well and he adds even more movement tricks to the crew on top of Doxies, a Nurse, etc. In Seamus crews I often have both the Rider and the Emissary though in most of my other keyword crews it is usually one or the other.

In Albus I generally find the Emissary much more useful than the Rider and that he has better synergy with the rest of the crew. 

With Kirai I usually don't take either as I tend to stay a lot more in Keyword and don't often have the points for one than one out of Keyword model and it usually isn't the Rider or Emissary. 

In a McMourning crew I usually don't have room for either. There are matches where I might want the Rider but generally I get what I need from 2 x Kentauroi and can't afford the extra cost of the Rider. 

I don't play Jack or Reva so can't really comment on how useful or critical either is with them. 

[Trample]

I really like the dead rider in a lot of different crews but I really think of him more from the beater angle as opposed to the Ride With Me ability he brings to the table. That is certainly a great ability, and I always use it turn one. When I consider taking him into my crew it is normally for his attacks though. In every turn after the first his zero action for me is devoted to Revel In Death, for which I will normally spend three crows (always available in turns 2+ if you don't spend them on defense). That means he really isn't much more than a 3 attack stat 6 model with a 2" reach and 3/4/5 track (plus the 1 damage and injured +1), but that's usually just what the doctor ordered. Sure, Reap can be very handy sometimes. The defense trigger is something you sometimes have to use and a great thing to have available when you need it. For me he normally just chops things with his scythe and does a pretty good job doing so.