Getting the mostout of Molly?

[iamthefly]

Hi,

I've only played Molly once, against the Ortagas who basically just advanced towards me resisting Wp duels and shot me to bits. Fair enough, its what they do. I've read the Pull my Finger for Molly.

I learned: Its a good idea to use the Grave spirit to cast +3 walk on Molly as often as possible so that she can cast a spell and almost keep up. Also attach the Gs to the Rogue Necromancy because when the RN is gone, you ain't damaging nothing. Don't get the RN killed, choose your moment very carefully. Summon Sybelle.

Is the above correct?

How do I get the best out of her and her crew?

Which strategies and schemes are best for Molly?

cheers,

iamthefly

[Seb3110]

My experience tells me, that if you want to get the most out of Molly, you need to run her as a henchman, and not as a master.

She is a very good support piece for someone like Seamus. She can keep up the summoning when the avatar gets out. She can make the crew faster. She can hand out -- flips to the enemy and so on.

I find it better to take her Necrotic Machine totem, since she can summon it back anyway, if it dies.

I dont find her to be very good as a master, since she is fairly limited in her model selection.

Hope it helped a bit

Best regards

Seb

[Pierowmaniac]

She's not the best choice for leading the crew, but a few of us here in the UK have had a fair bit of success in getting her to work (although admittedly there is a fair few match ups and strategies that I would say are little hope or no hope )

Her main disadvantage is crew selection, but after a fair few games playing the same crew, you do get used to 'making do' with what you've got.

Jon from 'Malifools' podcast and also Joe Hadfield from the 'Malibros' do give some very good Molly advise on their respective podcasts......(warning finding the gems of advise in the 'Malibros' isn't for those of a sensitive disposition )

oh and my last blog entry (see my sig) was also a molly write up, though I really should go back and update it now I've got another years of experience.

[vulture96]

I read a lot of Molly hate ... I am new to Malifaux, but have used Molly as a master and henchman and have been quite competitive against good and experienced players.

The one point I definitely agree with is that as a master, her Horrors and Belles limitation makes it tough to feel a competitive team. Now if Bette Noir was amended to be a belle or horror (or somehow able to be hired by Molly) her list becomes quite competitive.

The key to Molly IMHO is activating her first (unlike most masters) and then using her 0 actions to give all of the undead close to her necrotic spray (if she cannot summon Sybelle, who i agree is overpriced *crossthread*) and always go back to pitiful once activation is done. This requires morale duels for most models before the can attack, and her WP trigger causes damage if they fail.

Also, focus on strategies and schemes that aren't based on killing everything in sight. If you want a master or henchmen that destroys everything - Molly definitely isn't the model for you. However, good strategy I believe makes her competitive in Malifaux unique scoring system.

[i_was_like_you]

I haven't seen anyone weigh in with how well Yin may or may not help as far as model selection and making Molly competitive on her own. Anyone tried that mass of Harmless Terrifying viscera with Molly girl yet?

[D-A-C]

Could we maybe all agree that is is Molly is pretty much unplayable as Master of her own crew?

I know that might be pushing it in some peoples eyes but she really isn't good on her own.

As someone mentioned, throwing in Bete Noir to the mix would make things a little more interesting, but still wouldn't really compensate for the crews poor pool of model choices.

When I read things about 'Getting the most from Molly' I actually always assume her as a Henchwoman (PC term lol) to someone.

Seamus is the natural Master for her, but I'm always curious abbout how she could be useful for Nicodem, McMourning or Leveticus?

But I'd really love a full Seamus tactica for her because she baffles me whenever I try and use her.

1. She costs an arm and a leg i.e same points as Bete Noir and only 1ss cheaper than Dead Rider and now Izamu, its just too much.

2. She needs Soulstones, and Seamus doesnt have ones to spare lol, that's why her and McMourning always fascinated me as a potential combo.

I always feel like all I needed with Mcmourning were a few Canine Remains to chop up and we were good to go lol. So that left plenty of spare SS for hiring Molly and he has a large cache to share with her. Win + Win but what does she do for him, that's the question?

3. Leveticus can take her, and as my nephew started using his crew I'm just curious is she ever useful for fielding with him?

Love Molly, and would love her even more if she was a little cheaper and less suit dependant. Also, one Belle from two Corpse Counters ... you gotta be kidding me.

[i_was_like_you]

For that matter, D-A-C, has anyone fielded her effectively with Kirai or Yan Lo? It might be that the lack of crew synergy might actually prove beneficial, bringing new models to the table for a different crew.

[Enki]

I have been toying around lately with using Molly in a Kirai crew. If you are lucky enough to get the high crow for the lost love right out the gate to make her a spirit it is quite a bit of fun and provides a good deal of synergy with the crew.

1. Molly allows you to take the vomit worm along with the lost love, this is good for 1 extra card and an easy magical extension of imbue since he has the mask already or a cheap minion to philosophy of uncertainty with. (remember Onryo can also get rid of ITI for this)

2. Molly is able to borrow both summon Ikyrio and evolve spirit. Although it is much harder to heal her up and is card intensive can definately have uses summoning more spirits to come out and play. (Nurse may be good option if you want to go summon crazy with her.)

3. My favorite is having Molly borrow Onryo's blind to spirits. With an all spirit crew and a cast 7 with use SS casting this, it can be crippling.

4. Molly with bodyguard is an easy button in this list, 10 wound spirit with pitiful, necrotic spray, S2D + use SS, and the ability to have Kirai swirl her 36" out of danger makes her pretty much immortal if playing defensively.

This still in my opinion is more of a fun list. Since Kirai is already really good and due to how many crows you need even with the 7 cards, I don't feel it reliable enough to be competative.

This list does seem to change Kirai's play to a more defensive "Mollyesqe" style. If you feel like a change of pace I suggest you try it out but be warned:

If you thought Kirai was card dependant before........

[LordZombie]

I haven't seen anyone weigh in with how well Yin may or may not help as far as model selection and making Molly competitive on her own. Anyone tried that mass of Harmless Terrifying viscera with Molly girl yet?

I have tried that combo a few times, the big problems is the fight for crows at that point. Molly needs all 14 crows in the deck to even try and do anything and with Yin needing them to cast, it just doesn't really work out. I enjoy taking Molly as a leader and have pulled off a draw or two, which is a victory in my eyes. For some crews, you just have to play and enjoy the game and forget everything else.

[Carse]

I tried Molly with Leveticus and Izamu and she basically sat around making both of them move faster. Leve with move 6 and Izamu with move 7 are really fun.

[Sybaris]

Now if Bette Noir was amended to be a belle or horror (or somehow able to be hired by Molly) her list becomes quite competitive.

Bête Noire would be awesome for molly. She'd probably see more table time than now, and so would molly.

[Pierowmaniac]

Bête Noire would be awesome for molly. She'd probably see more table time than now, and so would molly.

Completely agree Bette would complement the list very well.

Bette is still easy to kill, but with her 'one with the night' she's difficult to remove completely and doesn't need corpse counters to come back.

She synegies well directly with Molly who can debuff Bettes intended target. Bette presence will also make your opponent have to think hard about either letting that crooligan get behind his lines or killing the crooligan and bringing Bette out.

[i_was_like_you]

Who says Bete isn't a proto-horror anyways? She doesn't have to be Special Forces: (Horror) just Horror, like how Stitched Togethers are Dolls, not Special Forces: (Doll). Then Molly'd still be able to hire her.

[Stepfan]

Well let me try. I run Molly a lot, as a Henchwoman and as a Master.

As a master, I find she excels at the non combat strategies using creative crooligan chenanigans(I always take 3 crooligans if I'm bothering wiht Molly). She does want to activate first, to throw around extra walks, defense/attack debuffs, and some of her great 0's. It also let's her get into position for some of her aura's to properly set off. I also think she almost demands having the Rouge Necromancy, though as it's her only real combat option(NOTE: I have not yet used Yin, might change my strategies, but waiting for the model). Overall, I find she can work as a Master, and have managed a few glorious moments.

However, her stronger element is helping other Master's. I've used her most extensively with McMourning, and have found her fantastic every time. I usually end up adding a few McMourning stuff to my Molly crew, having discoverd IMHO that McMourning doesn't really care that much about what else is in the crew, whereas Molly does. So if I have an objective strategy I'll go crooligans, though I will not take them unless I have a need to get at objectives. Molly boosts one of my favourite minions Sebastian into threating speed(He always seems so slow without Imbue Vigour), and boosting McMourning's walk is amazing. Her debuffs also stack nicely with McMourning, as the Good Doctor is a melee monster, so giving his targets double negative to defense can be a great boon, and I have saved him multiple times by giving the most nasty threat a double minus to attack flips(though that does sometimes require burning a stone). Having an increased summoning threat can be great, as McMourning is limited in what he can summon, as is Molly and there is no crossover. McMourning can also summon the Rouge Necromancy which Molly can do great things(Double Walk with Aura+Imbue Vigour is an eighteen inch move that you can then make 2 fangs strikes at target's 1" away is not bad at all). Only tried her once with Seamus, and haven't with any others. Am tempted to try her out a bit with Kirai, though mostly just to experiment. Also would love a Brawl with Seamus+McMourning and Molly. Is on my list of testing as I try to get my head around my favourite model.

Honestly I'm in the middle of updatign a few Pull My Finger articles(namely Molly/Crooligans), but want to get it all written out right before I put it up there.

Edited March 20, 2013 by Stepfam

[Jewomie]

Nice writeup Stepfam.

I have finally managed to pick up Molly despite the chorus of people screaming "save your money!" lol.

I am eager to run her with Dr. McMourning because, as you said, i find that he really doesn't care what else you hire. I don't even really summon with him, he's just a great fighter with one of the most useful healing abilities in the game. I find that i save up enough body parts to drop the RN on someone and that's all i really need to do in a game, so i just stick to the fighting and gaining fast. I figure Molly will add speed to the crew, and that would allow me to use belles and Samurai punks to get to objectives quickly.

I wonder what she would do in a Yan Lo crew. I'll try this in the coming weeks just to see what happens and i'll get back to you all.