S4lt Posted March 2, 2021 Report Share Posted March 2, 2021 Viks are super solid. They have a higher skill threshold in this edition. It takes a bit more practice and choosing the right targets but they can still absolutely clear house. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katadder Posted March 2, 2021 Report Share Posted March 2, 2021 Yeah viks are great, they are fast, still kill. Just not the throw away missiles they used to be. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ooshawn Posted March 2, 2021 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2021 5 hours ago, Adran said: There is no ranged sister. Both Viks are identically kitted out now. "am I a joke to you" - vanessa chambers 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adran Posted March 2, 2021 Report Share Posted March 2, 2021 16 minutes ago, ooshawn said: "am I a joke to you" - vanessa chambers "Yes - You're clearly not the best Ranged sister" - Anna Lovelace But I view Vanessa as support, I don't hire her because she has a gun, and an "East and West"ed Viktoria is probably a better shooter than Vanessa, although the built in surge on the center line is always tasty. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S4lt Posted March 2, 2021 Report Share Posted March 2, 2021 A focussed stat 8 shot from Vanessa has won me games on multiple occasions. Not a lot people can do about it and it can be devastating if they don't see it coming. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katadder Posted March 2, 2021 Report Share Posted March 2, 2021 But she's also a fairly easy kill. Df5 enforcer with just a shielded for protection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
touchdown Posted March 2, 2021 Report Share Posted March 2, 2021 It's not as good with other models (except Taelor) but you can use the mask trigger with any friendly mercenary, and can use their guns, so Vanessa, the other Vik, any Ronin within 12", even Big Jake within 8" and you can get extra attacks. Something to keep in mind. Overall, the Viks are more like bullies now. They shred weaker models that get in their way while they zoom around the board doing scheming. You don't want to get in a slug fest with really good bruisers, tar pits, or other melee masters. You'll lose those exchanges. Personally, I think they're really fun and rewarding to play this edition. A 2" push at the start of the turn is something that plays much better than it reads. It's always a really tense game for me because none of their models are durable so there's this razors edge of threatening your opponent while not also exposing yourself. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RisingPhoenix Posted March 2, 2021 Report Share Posted March 2, 2021 Zebo is pretty much correct here. Viks do not have the tools to play alpha strike bomber. I've tried to use them to take out masters like Sandeep or Dreamer, and here's the skinnny: you can't. Good players are not going to let you do that. I was pretty low on them initially because my evaluation was they can't do what I was trying to get them to do. They're definitely not useless though. They play a role as Colette look-alikes. They're unparalleled scheme runners, and can score early, then use their combat values to pick off enemy scheme runners. Do you know how many things like Necropunks lose a fight with Ronin? All of them. Ronin can surprise nail a model that started the turn 11" away and felt perfectly safe with 3 armor-ignoring attacks, just flat out evaporating them with a 6 stone model. Same thing with Soulstone Miners or even Iron Skeeters. Things that just aren't supposed to fall over dead to a 6 stone model will die to Ronin. The Viks themselves are also primo scheme runners, as even expensive scheme runners do NOT expect to have to win a fight with a Master to get the job done. And no one expects two masters if they haven't seen it before. Your goal is to basically score fast and early then play a denial game, stop your opponent from scoring as often as you can. You want your opponent to be thinking "oh they're just gonna bring Parker, I'll bring a schemy crew" and walk a bunch of squishy models into your incredibly fast, killy, stupidly squishy models. What you like, don't want to do is run them into Ironsides because holy SHIT you do not want to get into a pitched brawl with the Viks. Their entire crew is made of glass. So much glass. Terrain also plays a big role here. Like if you look at the board and go "it's a goddamn jungle" then it's a good board. If you look at the board and go "wow, I can shoot anything" then no. NB: Still not sure that Zipp isn't just better. Were I offering recommendations to new players I'd probably tell them Zipp over the Viks, but that doesn't mean they're bad. Zipp is just very good at his job. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesy Blue Posted March 3, 2021 Report Share Posted March 3, 2021 1 hour ago, RisingPhoenix said: NB: Still not sure that Zipp isn't just better. Were I offering recommendations to new players I'd probably tell them Zipp over the Viks, but that doesn't mean they're bad. Zipp is just very good at his job. I only recommend Vik over Zipp for learning because you'll get the fundamentals of the whole game better with Viks because you won't have to learn the difference between walking and flying rules immediately. Mercenary is the solidest, simplest, steadiest crew to learn the basics of the game from square 1. Everything else in the game expands on top of their rules. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
touchdown Posted March 3, 2021 Report Share Posted March 3, 2021 17 hours ago, RisingPhoenix said: NB: Still not sure that Zipp isn't just better. Were I offering recommendations to new players I'd probably tell them Zipp over the Viks, but that doesn't mean they're bad. Zipp is just very good at his job. Viks got an assist in GG1. They're better at Leylines (due to pushes, not places) and arguably Symbols (since you have 2 3 ap models that can interact). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesy Blue Posted March 4, 2021 Report Share Posted March 4, 2021 9 hours ago, touchdown said: Viks got an assist in GG1. They're better at Leylines (due to pushes, not places) and arguably Symbols (since you have 2 3 ap models that can interact). Three 3 ap models if you count Bishop (Four if you sneak in The Midnight Stalker) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RisingPhoenix Posted March 4, 2021 Report Share Posted March 4, 2021 On 3/3/2021 at 8:20 AM, touchdown said: Viks got an assist in GG1. They're better at Leylines (due to pushes, not places) and arguably Symbols (since you have 2 3 ap models that can interact). They're more relatively better at Leylines, but I'm not sure either is optimal. Symbols... I dunno. Zipp can stuff infinite pianos and Gracie in your face to remove your ability to go anywhere. In fact Zipp can toss Earl to a marker and still play guard on one of yours and still drop pianos. Meanwhile Merris or a Skeeter with Don't Mind Me is going to be able to grab a symbol practically no matter what your opponent does. And you're literally never going to pin down The First Mate, I've tried. Nerfed or not, you can't shoot him to death, you can't kill him in melee, and you just basically have to watch him run away. It probably depends on the schemes, the terrain. and what you think your opponent will bring, but I'd hate to play Symbols vs. Zipp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
touchdown Posted March 4, 2021 Report Share Posted March 4, 2021 59 minutes ago, RisingPhoenix said: They're more relatively better at Leylines, but I'm not sure either is optimal. Symbols... I dunno. Zipp can stuff infinite pianos and Gracie in your face to remove your ability to go anywhere. In fact Zipp can toss Earl to a marker and still play guard on one of yours and still drop pianos. Meanwhile Merris or a Skeeter with Don't Mind Me is going to be able to grab a symbol practically no matter what your opponent does. And you're literally never going to pin down The First Mate, I've tried. Nerfed or not, you can't shoot him to death, you can't kill him in melee, and you just basically have to watch him run away. It probably depends on the schemes, the terrain. and what you think your opponent will bring, but I'd hate to play Symbols vs. Zipp. I've actually killed the First Mate using the Viks multiple times. One of the few situations that Dragon's Bite is useful! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RisingPhoenix Posted March 5, 2021 Report Share Posted March 5, 2021 Well there you go. But 95% of the time you won't be playing vs. Viks, you'll be playing vs. Colette or Daschel or Zoraida (et al). And do the Viks have the advantage there vs. Zipp? I dunno. Even in Outcasts, Parker/Zipp/Viks are all defensible choices, and hell Leveticus is defensible too because he always is. That being said, if you have a Viks crew, that's two strategies they're fine at, and that's enough reason to play them. I think they're indefensibly bad into Public enemies no matter what the schemes are (the Viks are just 3 free tokens each) and I don't like them into Recover Evidence at all. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
touchdown Posted March 5, 2021 Report Share Posted March 5, 2021 Yeah I agree they're almost unplayable in Public Enemies. I think they're fine in Recover Evidence since you can't put markers on them, but Mercenary is nothing special at it. You end up going heavy versatile or ook. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RisingPhoenix Posted March 5, 2021 Report Share Posted March 5, 2021 Oh definitely they're "fine" in recover evidence, but compared to something like Jack Daw who can bring Jaakuna Ubume and stat 7 lure a victim into the Daw ball every turn? Or Hamlin who can pull the same trick? I dunno, I guess Taelor can try with Bring It, but I just don't see people being scared to go into the Merc ball in quite the same way they might with a Daw ball or Rat ball. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
respekt Posted March 10, 2021 Report Share Posted March 10, 2021 Since a few people suggested that you can sisters in spirit and then dragon's bite to put both sisters in melee range, that kinda works but you will need to be 42.135mm from a 30 mm model, 47.539mm from a 40 mm model, or 52.571mm from a 50 mm model. So you have to be very close or both won't be in melee as they cannot push through each other. Credit to JamesdfS on the outcasts discord for the math. My thoughts on the viks are in the TFW deep dive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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