Keeping the Poltergeist Alive

[Nathan Sells]

I find my sweet ghostly child gets picked off very early in most of my games, and while that makes it an excellent target for Hidden Martyrs, it can be be a little annoying to loose the ghost in the first couple of turns of every game. I do tend to keep the Poltergeist near the centre of the action so its aura's can help Pandora and Candy wreck things. While that is  probably not the best for survivability, it does have its benefits.  I was wondering if any of you more experienced players have tips for keeping Pandora's spiritual body guard kicking a little longer, or should I just resign myself to getting as much as I can out of it before it gets sniped?

[Maniacal_cackle]

Aversions can give it a little bit of survivability (by making it harder to get into melee range), and if you give it Inhuman Reflexes next to an Aversion, it will be extra durable. Of course, Aversions can be bypassed by just standing behind the poltergeist so the Aversion can't see it.

You could do something like hire a Geryon for Extended Reach to protect the geist xD

Ultimately, though, Poltergeist is designed to die. Anyone who plays against Pandora quickly learns that you have to kill it if it gets near you, so personally I'd suggest staying focused on timing. If you send the Poltergeist in at the perfect moment and get some good use of its auras (like having minus flips when Pandora blows everything up), that's probably a good outcome for you. Plus if they're hitting your Poltergeist, they're not hitting other models.

Maybe experiment with it a bit. You definitely CAN protect Poltergeist, but it may not be worth the investment. But if you experiment and arrive at the decision that you're comfortable with it dying, that's better than just accepting its death without question.

[Nathan Sells]

Quote

Poltergeist is designed to die

That's basically what I figured, but there's no worse feeling than thinking a model is designed to die and realising that you've been putting a glass canon out to pasture. My most common opponent mains Mah, and has a habit of sniping my Poltergeist immediately, so I wanted to ensure I wasn't missing out. Though it could be a lot of fun to keep it alive and watch those Gremlins squirm.  Thank you for the quick tips!

[Maniacal_cackle]

Oh, I'm used to playing against melee. Against shooting, also worth abusing terrain (especially since you're incorporeal) and maybe even creating concealing terrain yourself.

[Alcathous]

Sometimes you only need one activation with poltergeist nearby to win a game. As M_c mentioned, timing is key.

My most effective poltergeist plays have been double-walking into an engagement towards the end of a round. Top of the next round, use mood swings to delay threats to the poltergeist as long as possible and abuse distraction as much as you can until the poltergeist dies. 

Setting that up is hard. Sometimes the better play is to feint with the ghost to soak some damage and buy you some time.

[Ogid]

3 hours ago, Alcathous said:

My most effective poltergeist plays have been double-walking into an engagement towards the end of a round.

^ This, I also wait until the perfect moment to engage him (not necesarily at the end of a round tho).

That's usually after my other models are controlling or threating enemy models; at that point he is also killable if the other player wants it out of the picture, but that would mean not attacking my other models already in the fray; which is a win at that point for me. He can't go in first (or second).

[Adran]

The poltergeist is one of those models that can have a  huge effect on the game, so generally receives a priority target from the opponent. 

I normally view it as one of 2 ways - get it somewhere useful early on, and make the most of it before it dies (generally trying to have its distraction aura have a huge effect) or to hold it back somewhere safe until I need something critical from it. 

Some of this will depend on what I feel I need from it. If I'm going up against a Marker using crews, then I'm more likely to try and keep it safe to be able to use Telekinesis at the right times, but if I've facing a bunched up crew, then I'm more likely to try and get it in their early, and make use of multiple WP duels from the rest of the crew to have as big an effect as possible. 

You can try and keep it alive by adding various forms of defensive tech to your crew, ranging from hiring Upgrades for it (most likely Inhuman reflexes but eldritch magic may help against certain crews) to hiring healing (most commonly Serena Bowman) or other models that protect (such as Wrath or aversions, or models that provide Cover or concealing somehow, or even Copellius with the ability to mass slow the enemy).

Ultimately you can only keep it safe it your opponent doesn't choose to kill it. Which is basically the same as every other model, but what you can do is increase the cost to your opponent to kill it. The aim is to make the effect you get from it and the cost to kill it more than you spent to protect it. 

[Regelridderen]

I try to keep the Poltergeist away from the fighting and chase down markers. Then move him into position, to add some punch to the fighting. 

[Cranky Old Man]

Mine dies too quick as well. I have started using it as a flanker to scheme and then fly into the middle of the scrum to use his abilities. Ultimately its a totem and if you get a vp out of it then its worth it!

[Nagi21]

Main problem with poltergeist is that, more often than it should, it gets picked off with no possibility to prevent that.  Too many long range options that can put out 6+ damage in an activation unopposed, even on first activation with From the Shadows.