Partner Master/List for Pandora

[farmoar]

Hello everyone.

I love the type of game that a Woe-heavy Pandora list wants to play. From what I have read, she isn't one of those masters you can take into every pool (Shenlong). Who would be a good partner master/list, to cover up her weaknesses?

Most of the non-DMH masters appeal to me in some way, but I need to start small when branching off. Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[Maniacal_cackle]

I'm still learning the faction, but Zoraida springs to mind as an excellent complement.

Pandora wants to bunch up and bubble. Zoraida wants wide, sweeping coverage. Zoraida is great at corrupted idols, which feels like it will be one of Pandora's worst strategies. Pandora likes flank and wedge deployment, and Zoraida can handle the others (I think). Also has good model overlap (at least, I think they both should use hooded rider and maybe Hinamatsu).

Dreamer is another good one for model overlap (Carver, Teddy), but I think they excel at the same pools too much. One good thing is Dreamer covers turf war much better than she does and can handle any deployment type.

Titania is potentially quite good to complement as her crew can be built super mobile (I'm testing out the list next time I play, which might be after Christmas). Nekima also seems like a great complement for the same reason, although has a lot of other overlaps (glass cannons).

Lucius seems good in theory, but I know very little about him.

I suspect Euripededs is another 'too similar' case (slow, heavy hitters), but I know very little about him.

Is there anything in particular you struggle with for Woes? That is a good place to start.

[Ogid]

The Dreamer is a popular choice to pair with her when starting; you already have some of his beaters (Teddy/Carver), Serena is nightmare and you'll want her ASAP too; and Dreamer may cover well pools requiring a bit more of speed with the Spiders and some OOK.

Nekima could be another good one, but her new box and models aren't announced yet, so you'll have to wait for that one.

Zoraida or Marcus could be other good 2 (to cover mobile/scheme heavy pools); but as those have a lot of OOK models, they aren't the best to expand your NVB pick options early imo.

Titania is tough as nails, but she overlaps her favoured pools a bit with Pandora. It's also a keyword with few models and a strong synergy with some versatiles; so it's a cheap crew to transition if you already have rider/emissary.

[farmoar]

22 minutes ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

Lucius seems good in theory, but I know very little about him.

I suspect Euripededs is another 'too similar' case (slow, heavy hitters), but I know very little about him.

Thank you. Lucius is a no-go, just because my most-likely opponent will be running him a lot. I haven't seen a lot of chatter about Euripedes, but I assume that is because of how scarce his box is.

Short list would be Nekima, Marcus or Dreamer, but I am still open to almost anything.

[farmoar]

14 minutes ago, Ogid said:

The Dreamer is a popular choice to pair with her when starting; you already have some of his beaters (Teddy/Carver), Serena is nightmare and you'll want her ASAP too; and Dreamer may cover well pools requiring a bit more of speed with the Spiders and some OOK.

Nekima could be another good one, but her new box and models aren't announced yet, so you'll have to wait for that one.

Zoraida or Marcus could be other good 2 (to cover mobile/scheme heavy pools); but as those have a lot of OOK models, they aren't the best to expand your NVB pick options early imo.

Titania is tough as nails, but she overlaps her favoured pools a bit with Pandora. It's also a keyword with few models and a strong synergy with some versatiles; so it's a cheap crew to transition if you already have rider/emissary.

Does The Dreamer play enough of a different game than Pandora?

I think that is what pulls my eye more towards Nekima or Marcus, because they are a more aggressive force. Waiting for the Nekima box isn't the worst thing in the world (or just run her with 2 Matures and 3 Young), and I will need to read more about Marcus, having only listened to the Third Floor Wars deep dive on him.

Thanks!

[Maniacal_cackle]

@farmoar the Dreamer and Pandora playstyles are entirely different and will feel super fresh. However, they're my first two NB masters and I'm finding a lot of pools are either great for both of them or bad for both of them. There is a lot of pool overlap (that is, deployment/strategy/scheme combinations).

Dreamer is way better at Turf War, IMO, so there is that one advantage. Dreamer also covers a lot more deployment setups (he is good at all four of them, Pandora only at two).

Pandora also covers crews that buff themselves with conditions much better. I don't think she is necessarily great against crews that flood her crew with conditions.

EDIT: oh, and Dora has the Poltergeist, which is nuts in some matchups. It'll generally die turn 2 or 3, but that just indicates how much resources people will dedicate to removing it.

[Ogid]

9 hours ago, farmoar said:

Short list would be Nekima, Marcus or Dreamer, but I am still open to almost anything.

Any of these 3 would complement well enough Pandora pools-wise imo and playing things appealing to you is important, so I'd say go for the one you like the most.

Dreamer or Nekima would be my pick to focus more in the purple models and get some extra OOK picks. Marcus would require you to pick models from ARC and also models from Masters you don't own yet (Titania and Zoraida mainly); but if you don't mind that, it's also a good choice.

About Marcus, the deep dive you listened were ARC focused, purple Marcus is different and the comunity is still figuring out the good builds and how good he really is; you'll have less curated info avaliable than with the other masters (it kind of happens the same with Euripides). I have a gut feeling he is going to be good, but porting the the ARC way to play him to NVB won't work that well. He seems way more subtle and shenanigan focused in NVB than in ARC.

[Regelridderen]

I'd suggest you just go with the models, that makes you want to paint the most. Ultimately the greatest satisfaction will come from having good looking models exchanging blows on the tabletop.

I get my Neverborn fun from Pandora, Dreamer and Lucius. If I want something else, I look to other factions- 4 Guildmasters, 3 Ressurs (and 2 thunder masters, when they get revised and available).

Dreamer and Pandora has a wonderful synergy in models. Woes are great for WP duels and Dreamer summons via those. While nightmares can compliment Pandora through brute force.