Reva

[Wyamphri]

Looking to expand my collection and really have wanted Reva for a while but after reading a bunch, a little lost as to what are most haves, and what's useful to her, so any advice would be appreciated!

[CateranLlama]

I think there's some pretty varied opinions on Reva's stuff.  She was pretty bad during GG0, (make sure you have her errata'd card) so she hasn't seen as much play as a lot of the other masters, and is still seen as having her keyword be a little weak for their costs so there just isn't as much consensus on her lists as some of the other masters.  So what follows is my opinion and that of the three other guys I know who play her fairly often, but should not be taken as gospel. 

From her core box: Vincent is generally thought well of.  Having a single Shieldbearer around can bring in a fair amount of displacement and a surprising amount of tankiness for a 6 ss model, but no one loves them enough to bring all 3.

The Wanyudo from this Ten Thunders versatile box is very very mobile.  It can deal a reasonable amount of damage and roll some crazy distance a turn without placing.  It's also fairly squishy.  It's a good scheme runner and a good flanker, but it shouldn't be counted on to be very front line-y.  (it's also a crazy good enforcer for enforcer brawls, but that's a whole other kettle of fish)  The reactions from various people I've talked to range from "my #1 must have" to "a solid pick most of the time." 

Draugr are the other model we all seem to always include at least one of.  They're a little on the glass canon side of things, so sometimes you might consider Grave Spirit's touch, but the ability to shed fire for positive flips makes the way more of a threat than their stat lines suggest.  And Cremate and Draw Off Flame are solid utility. 

Opinions are fairly split on the Lampads.  I like having one a lot.  Being able to walk my pyre markers where I want them is huge.  I seem to be in the minority though.  It seems way more common to find them a little over-costed.  (I do often find they die more than I'd like given they have such a tanky-seeming Demise.  But it requires a card to discard and Reva always manages to run short of cards for me.)  They're ok replacements for scheme running if you don't want to buy the whole TT box for just Wanyudo. 

I'm not even sure what to say about the Restless Spirit.  I know a guy who brings it occasionally but I haven't played his Reva since GG1 hit so I don't know if he still runs it without Dig Their Graves.  And I've never heard anyone say anything positive about Mourners in Reva's crew. 

I do have one friend who swears by hiring Anna Lovelace OOK so he can blow up the Corpse candles, but so far no one else is as enthusiastic about it as he is. The other guys and I don't seem to run a ton of versatile/ook stuff with her.  The Emmy would probably be a solid choice between The Flesh Crawls and the ways it summons zombies (which are corpse markers to cremate or points Reva can melee from).  I've had reasonable luck with Sloth making my Draugr fast, but I'm not sure he's a must-have.  And I don't think anyone's ever going to tell you the Dead Rider is a bad choice, especially in a crew that can be a little lacking in front line, but I'm also not sure I've seen him run with her more than once.

Overall I find her stuff tends to both hit harder and die faster than it looks like it should.   She can actually do Leylines pretty well, and solid at lighting the centerpoint on fire and just ... making it too scary for anyone to come near. 

[Wyamphri]

How many  pyre markers do you find you end up having in a game on a average?

[Maniacal_cackle]

Exciting! I'm still getting the hang of Reva myself, but I'll share my first impressions. I'll also do it by boxes, since that's generally how you get models.

Core box: Must have, of course!

Mourners: eh, never heard anyone say they use them.

Draugr: some people quite like them, I haven't bothered buying them. I borrow them sometimes, but not too impressed. That said, they do make good little nukes, and they work well with positive flips to damage, which they get from the focus from shieldbearers. They also leave behind a corpse marker on death, so them dying isn't always a bad thing - it gives Reva more reach for killing.

Wanyudo: Super awkward to purchase, but some people swear by it. Personally I'm going to sculpt one myself, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

The returned (Restless spirits + Lampads) - probably a box you can skip, although I like having the cheap corpse marker generator. Lampads I enjoy playing with, but really probably aren't useful for 'optimal' crews. If you like fun, thematic pieces could be worthwhile, but feel free to skip this box.

Gravediggers: another option for corpse generation, but feels a bit expensive buying that whole box for one gravedigger. I went halfsies with a friend on a 2E box which worked well.

Dead Rider: Great versatile, but a bit too card hungry for the crew (unless you're going for a avoid the fight and score points approach to a match).

Eternal Servitude: My go-to budget recommendation. Just solid models all around, and the corpse synergy works well with the crew. The models can be a bit card hungry, though, so just a heads up about that.

Anna Lovelace: some people are a big fan of her in the crew, and I can see why. However, requires buying a whole core box, so possibly skip.

Carrion emissary: Some people like it, some don't. I've not tried it, but suspect it is too card hungry.

Corpse-throwers (Archie or Grave Golem): I've not actually tested this yet, but it seems super promising that you can hurl corpse candles as a cost (works even if it misses). Should be very useful for getting Reva setup for attacking. With Archie's nerf, grave golem is probably the way to go - and it is super easy to sculpt your own for dirt (pun intended) cheap. Hint: Use dirt to coat them after you sculpt them for a real genuine feel to the model.

 

There may be other models, but that's what I can think of off the top of my head. Personally I'd suggest buying the core box and testing it out, then adding other models as you go. If you have no collection at all, buying The Returned + Core box is what I did, partially as I wanted to learn the crew. But you're fine to skip The Returned.

[Maniacal_cackle]

1 hour ago, Wyamphri said:

How many  pyre markers do you find you end up having in a game on a average?

I play her pretty oddly, and often only end up with 2-4 pyre markers 🤣 I didn't even kill a model in my last game (as technically the only enemy model that died killed itself). If you went for a more kill-oriented build, I could see ending up with 5-10 on the table. The most common source of pyre markers is killing your own corpse candles for two pyres + one corpse marker.

[ShinChan]

11 hours ago, Wyamphri said:

How many  pyre markers do you find you end up having in a game on a average?

Around 4 each game (sometimes 2, sometimes 6). Depends on who you're facing and your list. I hire 30ss of versatiles/OOK models, so less people that can create pyre markers. Also my opponents tend to ignore the Candles, and after turn 1 I kill them in rare occasions myself.

Eternal Servitude and a Dead Rider are the best value for the money to complete the core Box. Don't bother with Anna unless you're going to buy the Von Schtook box (or you find a 2nd edition one), she's good because you'll be drawing 1-2 cards each turn with her, but also very expensive, same price as the Rider.

Wanyudo is a good addition, but terribly packaged unless you're going to collect Ten Thunders too. I would skip the Boxes with the Lampads and the Restless Spirit (this one is quite good for 4ss, but you can perfectly play without it). Draugrs are very glass cannon, in very few cases I managed them to survive more past turn 3, but in the right circumstances (a very few cases) they can put your opponent in some trouble. 

Rider is really good and it's not card hungry at all. You have plenty of ways to give him focus, and you just need to keep him safe until turn 3 (of bring a Draugr, so your opponent will invest in killing the Draugr instead of the rider).

Shieldbearers are decent for the cost, but don't expect much from them in resilience, they're very vulnerable to ping damage and any half-decent beater will kill them in one activation. They give you extra mobility in turn 1-2 and they can save your important pieces.

Grave Golem is good if you need some tankyness, but there are plenty of corpse/markers removal in the game, so be careful or he could die if you don't bring a Gravedigger/Restless Spirit.

I don't like Lampads. They have the defensive stats of 4ss minion with extra wounds, a Demise ability that is too resource hungry to work and requires a lot of setup while having the worst offensive stats of the all 8ss minions in the game.

Mourners where half decent in GG0 for some schemes. They're not that bad for their cost, but they don't bring anything that Reva needs. I would get some Bone Piles instead (and they come with the Grave Golem).

[KingJocko]

Asura Roten's another good versatile model for the keyword if you plan on playing a corpse heavy crew. Her extra Mindless Zombies will give you additional vectors for Reva to attack from, be cheap fodder for Final Veil, in addition to her allowing the MZs to semi-loose Insignificant for scoring objectives.