Arcanist title speculations

[eddy]

Any ideas?

My guess, Colette with proper dmg atack 😂

Hoffman with upgrades for constructs

Beater Marcus

Better Rasputina 

[Peturd]

So many ideas, likely none even close to what we'll see. But random speculation is fun:

• Beast summoner Marcus
• Melee beater Marcus
• Old school blaster-master Raspy
• Raspy who summons gamin from ice pillars, or golems from multiple
• Kaeris who does the same but with pyres
• Kaeris who uses her sword she wears on her model
• Toni, Union President - operating a little bit like Lucious commanding her own models
• Hoffman with command construct (which he should have had already!)
• Sandeep a bit like the spell eaters; spells switching between different element types (burning, poison, slow)
• Maybe a tanky version of Mei Feng ... who uses burning for more defense? Give a job to the forgelings fiery presence
• Colette is hard ... 

The possibilities are endless!

[Peturd]

Oh! A Colette who uses smoke (ie shadow markers) and can do a concealing aura and stuff along those lines. Kind of buff the defenses of your crew or conceal them! Anti-shooting Colette!

[thatlatinspeakingguy]

now I understand why they didn't buff Rasputina. they probably figured out that she's beyond redemption and it's easier to replace it with entirely new profile 5 mv, teleporting to ice pillars, creating few of them at the start of the game for free, drawing a lot of cards and showering battlefield with frozen corpses for her keyword models to eat

[Math Mathonwy]

Colette as three models like her Avatar used to be. At the start of each round you replenish her to three models and then when one of the models takes damage, you either remove the one that took damage or take damage to the Colette card and remove a different Colette model.

[Jordon]

I would imagine that certain masters will still be tied to certain mechanics. Unless were looking at keyword changes, most crews seem constrained by certain elements of their current toolkit. 

I'd be hard to imagine Raspy without Ice Pillars as her crew interacts with them as much as she does. How they're created and utilized will likely change. I'd love to explore a non ice mirror style of play where Raspy is up in the thick of it. 

Marcus also seems very tied to mutations. The obvious change here being a whole new set of mutations. Personally I'd love to see a nod back to his M2E poison build. Seems like poison is under utilized within Chimera.

Kaeris also seems pretty locked into pyre markers but maybe that could also work as strait up burning. She could honestly go in any number or directions. More support, more damage, more scheme. I'd love to see accelerant make a return personally. 

Foundry really needs scrap in order to work. I could see Mei change into more of a support role. The keyword could use some more scheme related help so pointing her in more of a scheme role could be interesting. 

Not sure if you could utilize power tokens for summoning but I feel like summoner would fit Hoff pretty well.

Toni would make a great support/scheme lady as she undertakes more of the M&SU boss role. 

Colette is another one that could really go anywhere as she and her crew are not really locked in to any particular mechanic. Maybe poison could work here as well? Else, someone who is more behind the stage helping out the crew rather being in the spotlight?

 Sandeep could maybe go less on general elemental summoning and lean more into Banasuva summoning? Maybe some benefit to him when he's "trapped" in his Gada versus being let loose?

[NoisyAssassin]

Mei getting an ability or aura that prevents/punishes scrap being removed by enemies, or gives a bonus/effect whenever scrap is removed would be a nice way to deal with anti-scrap tech that people tend to bring.

[touchdown]

I want to see control Mei. Putting enemy models into train cars and shipping them off.

[eddy]

i want Colette with either hazardous distracted aura or markers

[retnab]

1 hour ago, touchdown said:

I want to see control Mei. Putting enemy models into train cars and shipping them off.

If only she'd get a new model which is literally just a train in the future xD

[touchdown]

10 minutes ago, retnab said:

If only she'd get a new model which is literally just a train in the future xD

Dual keyword Foundry/December, the Snowpiercer

[Jordon]

I'm curious what peoples thoughts are on new Sonia compared to Kaeris. Both seem to operate similarly (I guess Reva as well). This is not meant as a "who is better" discussion, but just as a curious comparison of how they differ and in what way.

Overall it seems like Sonia can out Pyre Kaeris with her getting a built in trigger on flameburst. Nearly double the range and (very likely) positives, means your very likely to see 3+ Pyres a turn from Sonia. Kaeris (at least when I player her) is usually dropping 2 a turn, primarily from On the Pyre. Obviously the crew has a huge impact on this as well as Kaeris has access to Elementals/Carlos who also generate Pyre markers, which as far as I'm aware, Sonia doesn't have. 

I feel like the big difference in the pyre game is the Injured versus Severe. With this is seems like Sonia is more about moving models and keeping them trapped in Pyre markers. Whereas Kaeris is more about moving the Pyre markers to the opponent. So while Kaeris may have less to work with, she is able to do more with less, keeping them relevant.

 

The other major similarity is Channeled Flame versus Blaze of Glory. It looks as though Channeled Flame is just a straight up better version of Blaze of Glory as you can still use Channeled Flame to reduce on yourself, and even using it defensively.  It's pretty great on Kaeris so I imagine it'll be even more potent on Sonia.

 

Another key difference is that I get the sense that Keris is a skirmisher. She wants to be up in the thick of it, locking people down her Up We Go, tanking hits with armour, while also setting things ablaze. Sonia on the other hand doesn't have a melee action and primarily relies on Flamburst. On top of not being overly resistant, she really doesn't seem like she wants to be anywhere near combat. She can use her reposition trigger on confiscated lore but not much else beyond that.

 

Overall I feel like they did a good job with having both masters do very similar things but going about it in a very different manner. I'm not sure who'd have the advantage if both crews faced off. but it'd probably be very interesting.

[Peturd]

18 minutes ago, Jordon said:

I'm curious what peoples thoughts are on new Sonia compared to Kaeris. Both seem to operate similarly (I guess Reva as well). This is not meant as a "who is better" discussion, but just as a curious comparison of how they differ and in what way.

Overall it seems like Sonia can out Pyre Kaeris with her getting a built in trigger on flameburst. Nearly double the range and (very likely) positives, means your very likely to see 3+ Pyres a turn from Sonia. Kaeris (at least when I player her) is usually dropping 2 a turn, primarily from On the Pyre. Obviously the crew has a huge impact on this as well as Kaeris has access to Elementals/Carlos who also generate Pyre markers, which as far as I'm aware, Sonia doesn't have. 

I feel like the big difference in the pyre game is the Injured versus Severe. With this is seems like Sonia is more about moving models and keeping them trapped in Pyre markers. Whereas Kaeris is more about moving the Pyre markers to the opponent. So while Kaeris may have less to work with, she is able to do more with less, keeping them relevant.

 

The other major similarity is Channeled Flame versus Blaze of Glory. It looks as though Channeled Flame is just a straight up better version of Blaze of Glory as you can still use Channeled Flame to reduce on yourself, and even using it defensively.  It's pretty great on Kaeris so I imagine it'll be even more potent on Sonia.

 

Another key difference is that I get the sense that Keris is a skirmisher. She wants to be up in the thick of it, locking people down her Up We Go, tanking hits with armour, while also setting things ablaze. Sonia on the other hand doesn't have a melee action and primarily relies on Flamburst. On top of not being overly resistant, she really doesn't seem like she wants to be anywhere near combat. She can use her reposition trigger on confiscated lore but not much else beyond that.

 

Overall I feel like they did a good job with having both masters do very similar things but going about it in a very different manner. I'm not sure who'd have the advantage if both crews faced off. but it'd probably be very interesting.

I try to save a tome for Kaeris to get an extra pyre out if hitting a non-burning enemy (since smolder only works if they are already burning). So a lot of her activations get me 3 pyres total. Sonnia has potential for more obviously though.

I feel like the most important difference (as you allude to) is Kaeris can "run and gun" and fly. Sonnia may have 14" range (same as charge 6" and 8" range) but Kaeris can be a scalpel choosing targets in a way Sonnia can't as part of that range (the charge move) is changing your attack vector. It also is often spent charging into a pyre getting burning going on herself. Sonnia does have her totem for firey presence, but it doesn't compare to the self burning Kaeris and wildfire can get stacked turn 1. And Sonnia needs to walk to get into pyre positions, which must all be in a line or cluster at the same spot instead of up to 24" apart like Kaeris's two. Allows Kaeris to drop an "aggressive" and "defensive" pyre the same turn.

Straight up though Sonnia feels like the slower moving slightly more power to her spells version. Kaeris having less magical umph but making up for it with her speed and tricks. And based on every anime I've ever watched, that makes Kaeris the protagonist, so Kaeris will win! hahaha

[clockworkspide]

3 hours ago, touchdown said:

I want to see control Mei. Putting enemy models into train cars and shipping them off.

But what happens when she goes up against "Great Train Robber" Parker Barrows?😀

[Mycellanious]

I think I'd be down for an Experimental-Chimera Title crossover. Marcus gets access to some poison shenanigans, and Dougie gets to hang out with his niece

[dancater]

I really like the idea of this and am hopeful concerning its development and reveal. We will all, I think, acknowledge that we have our favourite "look/fluff" master's and crews and this provides either (a) a chance to play an alternate if we enjoy the original mechanics of the crew (variety is fun) or (b) an opportunity to have a master/crew variation we like to play if, for some reason, the original crew just didn't gel with us.

I am hoping that this does not become an alternative to re-working underpowered or problematic original mechanics masters, I want these titles to provide viable alternatives, not to patch over weaknesses (Rasputina?).

I'm also invested in the new titled master's still integrating with their keyword crew, but ideally in a different fashion.

The Sonnia unmasked fills me with a degree of hope, she seems to fit the bill. She does share a lot of mechanics with Kaeris, which is fine, Wyrd should take what works as a foundation, Guild would surely also appreciate a fire blaster like Arcanists already have, and the small changes between Sonnia (who walks) and Kaeris the fire-angel will impact their similar kits in how they play, so they wouldn't be clones anyway.

So what would I like to see, or some chalkboard ideas.....

1. Colette, my Arcanist darling needs to stay as the illusionist, trickster but I'd like to see her as maybe more support (Jordan's backstage mistress), with her crew becoming more fighty and brutal, so maybe see a limited return of obey Colette
2. Hoffman, a control style perhaps where control tokens generate static charges which move, push, pull and lock enemy models and with his allied models he can arc his charges out, literally an arc-node style similar to Raspy's Ice Pillars. Letting the Hoff crew play very spread out while forcing the opposition into a clump, the reverse of his current metal-ball play style.
3. Kaeris, a where there is smoke there is fire styling perhaps, Pyre markers operating for her crew as movement points (ride the rails style) and Kaeris having a limited summon through Pyre markers or alternatively a Sheathed in Flame idea where Kaeris near a Pyre marker becomes a melee beast with a 2-3" reach, lashing out with fire, maybe both in combination, so if she kills with her fire whips in melee she get's a Fire Gamin summon.
4. Marcus, the mutation master needs this core mechanic to remain, but perhaps something to integrate poison and mutation, so his crew can cause unstable mutation in opponents they hit with the poison condition (requiring a little more poison handout as well) resulting in flipping poison to injured, distracted or burning (depending on perhaps a mutation option Marcus triggers in his turn). Marcus can extend or stack poison on his enemies as an element of his forcing mutation on opponents.
5. Ironsides, go a rabble rouser support/healing build, so more interaction at range, increase her capacity to hand out Burning (fire bombing rioter's) and allowing her a ranged heal to support her crew, make Ironsides go from an up close brawler to a back of the protest firebrand.
6. Mei-Feng, the freight train Mei, so ride the rails becomes a mechanic allowing her to "throw" out a scrap marker at an enemy and then move into base contact with them and/or she can by your side to allied constructs. In this structure she moves from the fast moving skirmisher and becomes the armoured train, the tank build and she can utilise Burning she generates as either shielding or healing either banking the fires or stoking the furnace. She becomes a monster to kill.
7. Rasputina, a short ranged in the middle of things Raspy with high mobility through her Ice Pillars. Give her an ability called centre of the storm which is a AOE low damage hand out slow (with more slow equates to higher damage for her crew perhaps), claws of ice high melee damage and maybe a slow (or stun if already slow) trigger. Make December a nasty up close, alpha strike crew and have Raspy as the feared fist of frost in the middle of this. 
8. Sandeep, pump up his ranged, taking maybe a Nightmare style ranged summon through an enemy hit with willpower style "Academic Sanction". More emphasis on his Academic models, where his Elemental summons exist only for a limited time "flicker" style mechanic but ranged attacks from Academics can increase the duration of this temporary summons, so the Elementals entangle enemies in melee (for limited damage) while the Academics lay in ranged damage. So emphasize this long ranged gunline style for Sandeep.     

Well that was a quick 10 minutes brainstorm. Some of the changes likely aren't that impactful, I've not got huge playing time with all the Arcanist crews so can't really comment with authority on what certain crews feel like their "missing" and would thus provide an interesting change. However, I think this demonstrates how poaching a few ideas from other factions, spinning them into a Arcanist theme and then applying them with a little twist is a fertile source of cool ideas.

[Jordon]

I wonder if these new master cards will reflect some narrative change. Just basing the art change on Sonia, I feel like there is more narrative influences, rather than a strict change for game play sake.

This could be really cool. Even if they are more "what if" type of changes. For example, what if Raspy actually got taken over by December? What if Sandeep lost control of Banasuva? What if Marcus discovered the secret of immortality from the jackalope?

Give me cool rules and a convincing story to go with it, and now were talking.  

[Thatguy]

1 hour ago, aquenaton said:

Maybe a Mei Feng who uses scrap for schemes or the other hand? Like if they were getting money for the rail-making.

I like that. Something like Paid By The Mile, where at the end of turn scrap counters count as scheme markers. Sorta like Gravedigger's Field of Corpses.

1 hour ago, aquenaton said:

Maybe Sandeep could focus more in his support roles, with healing and passing actions around, no attacks nor summoning, but him being a teacher.

I think Beater Sandeep would be fun. I mean look at the size of that Heavenly Gada. Should be min 3 damage at least. Lol

[Mycellanious]

43 minutes ago, Thatguy said:

I like that. Something like Paid By The Mile, where at the end of turn scrap counters count as scheme markers. Sorta like Gravedigger's Field of Corpses.

A version of Study would be perfect on a Mei Feng alt. Replace a Scrap with a Scheme marker and draw a card. 

[Greatfrito]

On 4/29/2021 at 7:02 AM, Jordon said:

I would imagine that certain masters will still be tied to certain mechanics. Unless were looking at keyword changes, most crews seem constrained by certain elements of their current toolkit. 

Yeah, I think they kind of have to be.  Given what we're seeing so far, I'm not ready to really start expecting huge shifts in what any given master does just from a title.

On the Arcanist side of things, I'll just echo what everyone is saying about Rasputina.  I don't care if it's mid-range, long-range, or somehow a frontline melee brawler (though that sounds dumb), I'd like to have a more deadly version of Raspy.

I would love to see the mob markers (or whatever the heck they were) from that one 2e Ramos upgrade come back in some form with Ironsides.  Maybe have the tokens "count as a model with the Unionized ability" to synergize with the crew's gimmick a bit?  She's gonna have Adrenaline Tokens still, and she should still be a brawler, but maybe slightly less inherently tarpit-y, and more directly face-smash-y? 

Or hell, maybe they barely tweak her at all, and she's just a little more mobile with less ability to pull targets in.  I really do not know how much change to expect from the titles still.

 

[extremor]

I would love to see Colette drop several „tricky explosion boxes“ like Titania and her marker stuff but with Kazaaaaammmmm and a lot of smoke. 

[Jordon]

I would love a callback to M1E where Colette would turn people into Mannequins. 

[Vangerdahast]

20 minutes ago, Jordon said:

I would love a callback to M1E where Colette would turn people into Mannequins. 

I remember changing Von Schill (he was a henchman at that time) in a mannequin Turn 1. Hilarious (my opposent didn't reacted the same).

I would love to see the return of her Avatar: 3 Colette on the table. Can be very funny.

 

 

[MrPieChee]

Now that the new asami title has emerald shimmer (obeys can't gain flicker tokens), do you think Marcus will get that for upgrades?

Would be great to see on the upgrade cards themselves, but I guess that's too many cards to change for an errata

[Maniacal_cackle]

4 minutes ago, MrPieChee said:

Now that the new asami title has emerald shimmer (obeys can't gain flicker tokens), do you think Marcus will get that for upgrades?

Would be great to see on the upgrade cards themselves, but I guess that's too many cards to change for an errata

Old Asami had that ability, so it may just be a flicker specific thing. Those models getting obeyed is a LOT worse (instant kill as opposed to losing 1-2 upgrades).

Also we can stealth to tech against it.

Although I imagine it is FAR worse for Arcanists for Neverborn, so maybe can hope?