Exploring Explorer's Errata

[hydranixx]

The long awaited errata's in, and with it, we see some perennial favourites knocked down a peg, and our 'top two' masters nerfed. 


Intrepid Effigy/Emissary:

Aura of Courage now only heals if the duel is generated by enemy models, which I assume means you now no longer heal, ever, unless an enemy model attacks or throws a Shockwave at you and you win by 2 or more. This is a big deal, and to be fair, was probably needed to bring them down to the level of other Effigy/Emissaries in the game.

I suspect many of our opponents were really hoping to see that spicy Df7 on the Emissary to come down, or for Take the Hit to go, but neither happened, so it remains a huge problem for some enemy crews. It kind of solves the problem of just how squishy so many of Masters are, so I'm glad Wyrd were mindful of that when they took a look at it.

Archivist: 

Ill Omens +2 is gone and Killer Late Fees trigger no longer provides +1 damage. If you mainly just hired this guy out-of-Keyword, you probably won't anymore, but even within Keyword, he's lost some great all-purpose value.

Dust & Cobwebs seems reasonably useful in Keyword, as you can activate him early to set Nexus up with suits and a free Web, or just throw out a Web for the Nightsilk Creeper to teleport to without needing targets. Unfortunately, with the Spin Web trigger being removed, you now can't throw such Webs directly at enemies from 10" away as part of your attack (which was great at setting up the Nightsilk Creeper to hop 12" and take 3 melee swings). Dust & Cobwebs also means the Archivist now won't get bogged down Webs, which in my experience wasn't really much of a concern anyway but it's nice to have I guess. 

The Hush trigger is a nice addition, as he's now also able to contribute to the Keyword's strategy of spreading Parasites. The duel it requires of your opponent is not massive, but the net result of your attack is packed full of value - you deal 2/3/4 damage, your opponent either discards a  or you draw a card, and they also now need to top deck a decent card or cheat from their hand as well. It's probably good that it's once per turn.

Overall, Archivist feels like his role is much more slanted towards being a Keyword support model, rather than a general all star. No longer having a 3/4/5 attack at 10" or Ill Omens means I don't think you'll see him out-of-Keyword very often, though if you are absolutely desperate for access to anti Demise/anti HtK I suppose you might still consider him. 

Calypso:

Similar to the Archivist, I think you'd be surprised to see Calypso out-of-Keyword now, since the Calypso + Dr Beebe combo now cost 14ss if Maxine isn't your leader.

Df5 feels fair since you already have Armour +2; Df6 felt over the top before and the slight nerf to Onward is meaningless if you're managing your s well anyway. 

The Mass of Tentacles triggers is gone from Thriller Driller, a change  in my opinion which is correct since beforehand it offered an unresisted option to damage and move models, which feels awful as the opponent. I'm glad to see the trigger is still present on his melee attack, as it is fun and powerful, but feels fair since you still need to win an opposed duel to do it.

Nexus:

Omnipresent Influence is now 12" as opposed to 12" outright, though Nexus is now Sz 3 to partially compensate for it (though this does also make Nexus more easily targeted by the opponent, and the opponent now at least has the option to block your LoS to deny nodes).

Summoned Eyes & Ears are slightly more expensive to summon (one card value higher), you can no longer summon 4 from a Red Joker, and they essentially become Mindless the turn they show up; they can't activate, but the opponent doesn't get a Pass Token. Presumably if you summon an Eyes and Ears and grow it into a Berserker Husk in the same turn, it still misses its activation.  

Will of Cadmus TN is 2 less, which will be a welcome change when it comes to end of turn control hand requirements, and the Uncomfortable Twitching trigger moves the model 2" before taking the action, rather than afterwards. This seems like a pretty big plus to me, as you can now push 2" (potentially out of Engagement range) and then Interact, or even just push out of Engagement before taking a standard Walk. 

With the Cryptologists' Antique Timepiece now being Minion/Wastrel only, Meredith can no longer grow two Berserker Husks a turn, and the Nightsilk Creeper can't hop 12" out of activation any more, for that matter, which does feel like a pretty big swipe at Nexus specifically.

I don't have much authority to speak further on the Cryptologist outside of that specific interaction, or on English Ivan/Brocken Spectre having never played any of them. Interested to hear what our DUA players think about that one.

What do you think: did they go far enough with their nerfs to Nexus or Ivan? Too far? Nexus still looks great to me - and in fact even got some slight buffs - but I am mindful that I've only played a handful of games with Nexus so am keen to hear what veteran Cadmus players think.

[Maniacal_cackle]

Cryptologist offers a really interesting tool, and the one he was always designed to offer: the ability to tinker around with your upgrades (and get fast out of them).

For instance, you can have sidir keep the upgrade for his entire activation, and use juggernaut, then have the cryptologist command him to pass it. Much more viable to use upgrade shenanigans on models that have good bonus actions now (like desper as another example).

Also super cool that you can use the bonus action utility (like draw a card, not that McCabe should ever have fewer cards than the opponent at this point xD).

So I think they fill a good design space even if they're a bit boring and not as ridiculously powerful as say the curator.

1 hour ago, hydranixx said:

The long awaited errata's in, and with it, we see some perennial favourites knocked down a peg, and our 'top two' masters nerfed. 


Intrepid Effigy/Emissary:

Aura of Courage now only heals if the duel is generated by enemy models, which I assume means you now no longer heal, ever, unless an enemy model attacks or throws a Shockwave at you and you win by 2 or more

Well, given the emissary is still df 7, you still face the risk of hitting the enemy and accidentally causing a heal. And even for other models you need to sometimes flip some cards at them. So  I still think it is super strong, even if it is just a 'the crew is immune to shockwaves in this aura."

1 hour ago, hydranixx said:

Archivist: 

 Unfortunately, with the Spin Web trigger being removed, you now can't throw such Webs directly at enemies from 10" away as part of your attack

One upside here is you can still throw out the web marker near an enemy ten inches away without it being within bash range for them to destroy the terrain piece before you teleport!

[Korrok]

One thing you forgot to mention is that parasitic crasp only let's you treat enemies as friendlies during friendly activations now. So you can't ping some damage back when a parasited enemy punches you. 

 

With that said I'm not too miffed over most of these changes. Loolomg forward to trying stuff. 

[Math Mathonwy]

"Black Soulstone Stat reduced from 7 to 6 and TN reduced from 13 to 12. Additionally, English Ivan ignores the effects of this Action."

What's the significance of the stat and TN change? I don't get it - is it just to get all the stats to 6? Seems like a weird change. Unless I'm missing something.

[Kogan Style]

1 hour ago, Korrok said:

One thing you forgot to mention is that parasitic crasp only let's you treat enemies as friendlies during friendly activations now. So you can't ping some damage back when a parasited enemy punches you. 

 

With that said I'm not too miffed over most of these changes. Loolomg forward to trying stuff. 

That and the 2 irreducible getting turned into just 2 damage. Its only the damage change that I'm miffed about, the others I think are healthy for the game 

[Korrok]

1 hour ago, Math Mathonwy said:

"Black Soulstone Stat reduced from 7 to 6 and TN reduced from 13 to 12. Additionally, English Ivan ignores the effects of this Action."

What's the significance of the stat and TN change? I don't get it - is it just to get all the stats to 6? Seems like a weird change. Unless I'm missing something.

Think this was legit just to make the math easier at a glance. Most people can see stat 6 with a TN of 12 and go OK I need a 6 vs stat 7 with a TN of 13. Its just a less awkward looking math problem. 

[Da Git]

A big one is that Ivan lost the Umbra keyword. So no more healing from Gibson (preferably with Surge). No more pushing himself with Encroaching shadows. I reckon these will have a bigger impact than the no damage trigger.

Brokens lost the auto-damage from Hallowed Glory. Very fair

Mikhail lost 1" on his melee and his place Chronicle turned into a push. Also very fair.

[hydranixx]

3 hours ago, Kogan Style said:

That and the 2 irreducible getting turned into just 2 damage. Its only the damage change that I'm miffed about, the others I think are healthy for the game 

I didn't even notice that it changed to no longer being irreducible, but yeah, ouch. Cadmus has no other way to get through Armour, so irreducible here felt... kind of necessary in some match ups. 

[Jkkb]

1 hour ago, Da Git said:

Mikhail lost 1" on his melee and his place Chronicle turned into a push. Also very fair.

It's a move, so a bit better then a push

[hydranixx]

9 hours ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

Well, given the emissary is still df 7, you still face the risk of hitting the enemy and accidentally causing a heal. And even for other models you need to sometimes flip some cards at them. So  I still think it is super strong, even if it is just a 'the crew is immune to shockwaves in this aura."

I presume you mean that the player opposing the Emissary risks missing an enemy (potentially the Emissary itself) when attacking, and therefore healing it?

If so, then yes, that still provides some value. It's kind of turned into merely a deterrent for throwaway attacks/shockwaves, which is probably still fine since the rest of both cards is still very good when compared with their counterparts in many other factions.

I kind of wish they renamed it from Aura of Courage to something else while they were at it, though. Hoping you get attacked but manage to dodge the attack doesn't strike me as particularly courageous - and if anything, it's your opponent who has to be courageous by sending attacks, throwaway or otherwise, into a Df7 model.

[Cursed25]

for the brocken Specter, Hallowed Glory needed a nerf but I just don't get why they also lost Terrifying? were they so hard to kill they needed to lose a big part of their defense?

I'm also sad for the nerf on the Penumbral converter range! It was a great tool to place shadow markers in far away places to allow some shenanigans inside the crew. Now it will be way harder to use it now in my opinion.

[santaclaws01]

11 hours ago, hydranixx said:

Uncomfortable Twitching trigger moves the model 2" before taking the action, rather than afterwards.

That was always the case. The change here is that you don't always get to push the target just for having a mask and actually need to win the duel, so no just targeting parasited enemies and moving them 2" with no resist.

[hydranixx]

20 hours ago, santaclaws01 said:

That was always the case. The change here is that you don't always get to push the target just for having a mask and actually need to win the duel, so no just targeting parasited enemies and moving them 2" with no resist.

Right you are - I completely misread the adjustment!

[Maniacal_cackle]

Wait, you didn't even mention the most exciting change???

ALPINIST WORKS NOWS!!!!

[DuBlanck]

21 hours ago, Cursed25 said:

I'm also sad for the nerf on the Penumbral converter range! It was a great tool to place shadow markers in far away places to allow some shenanigans inside the crew. Now it will be way harder to use it now in my opinion.

6" free Scheme Marker removal (or creation) was obnoxiously easy, particularly as it gives such a significant advantageous swap.

[hydranixx]

On 2/18/2022 at 11:19 PM, Maniacal_cackle said:

Wait, you didn't even mention the most exciting change???

ALPINIST WORKS NOWS!!!!

😄 you know, I originally had this written up as part of the topic.

But then I remembered they nerfed Tin Feast. I liked that it was a perfect mirror to Grim Feast but I guess the poor goat just can't have it all.

I think you might see it show up on particularly egregious boards now

[Maniacal_cackle]

4 minutes ago, hydranixx said:

😄 you know, I originally had this written up as part of the topic.

But then I remembered they nerfed Tin Feast. I liked that it was a perfect mirror to Grim Feast but I guess the poor goat just can't have it all.

I think you might see it show up on particularly egregious boards now

It is likely because tin feast was an existing ability and there was a mismatch with the mech porkchop

[hydranixx]

13 minutes ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

It is likely because tin feast was an existing ability and there was a mismatch with the mech porkchop

Part of me wonders why they didn't adjust the Porkchop in that case... but I suppose it's probably better to reduce the overall number of models being errata'd. Since they needed to change the Alpinist to fix Climbing Gear anyway, they may as well change his version of Tin Feast to be in line with Porky while they're at it. 

Tin Feast Grim Feast symmetry begone. 

[Adran]

11 minutes ago, hydranixx said:

Part of me wonders why they didn't adjust the Porkchop in that case... but I suppose it's probably better to reduce the overall number of models being errata'd. Since they needed to change the Alpinist to fix Climbing Gear anyway, they may as well change his version of Tin Feast to be in line with Porky while they're at it. 

Tin Feast Grim Feast symmetry begone. 

I assume they made the mechanical pork chop and the alpanist fight it out, for the most powerful mechanical farmyard animal, and the rage machine won. 

[hydranixx]

Just now, Adran said:

I assume they made the mechanical pork chop and the alpanist fight it out, for the most powerful mechanical farmyard animal, and the rage machine won. 

We all know Wyrd has a thing for Pigs, so they probably stacked the deck so Porky would win