Pyre Troll Musings

[McDevious]

How often do you find yourself using the Pyre Troll for melee? Personally (though I've only tried in a few games), I find myself living in fear of melee, and happily fireballing infantry. He can get 2 P+S 14 claw hits with his own animus, so that's not bad compared to, say, Troll Whelps (in fact, it's very good). But I've never thought about purposefully getting him into melee with enemy units (and the possibility of that thought keeps me up at night) since I can't shoot fireballs everywhere (which is great fun).

That said, I was wondering if a flip to his _AT stats would help him out better (4 MAT / 5 RAT). Suggesting he gets 5 MAT and RAT would likely invite a torrent of "fury > focus so he gets crap stats, so deal with it" comments from random people, so how about just swapping it so that his RAT is better?

I currently see him (and thus play him) as a ranged beast, but with lower RAT than MAT. Is he better at melee-ing than I'm giving him credit?

[Saerko]

If my Pyre gets into melee, something has usually gone terribly wrong. That's the Slag Troll's job.

That said, it's always nice to have a source of 2-Hand throws. I've used him to toss KW's at a warcaster/warlock I wanted to KD, or to throw a Light warbeast/warjack into it's friends or an obstacle. Straight up damage output though? That's a rare feat indeed.

The problem is that his AOE and Animus are so good, you really can't risk him. His utility as a support piece is a lot higher than as an offenisive melee beast. Like I said though...you can't turn down a nice Head-Butt or 2-Hand Throw in a clutch.

[Invader Larb]

I use him as a backup for power attacks. If your experience during the field test leads you to believe a MAT/RAT switch would be beneficial or a MAT 5 RAT 5 would be appropriate, you should submit that as feedback. Don't stress about the forums.

[Silopolis]

I'd love it if his RAT was higher, or if his AOE caused auto-fire (rather than crit fire), but I don't think he's bad, at all. The Pyre has always been more about what he could give to other models than about what he could do for himself.

That said, he earned his place on my lists when (Mk.I) a minimum unit of Bloodtrackers wound up threatening my deployment zone in round 1, but I had deployed .5" behind the line and so they fell short... and Pyre breathed and blew away their leader and two others, forcing a CMD check and causing them to flee.

He and the Mauler are rarely in my list at the same time, but in Mk.I I didn't want to take the Mauler that often. Too fragile, too much Fury. With things the way they are in Mk.II, it's more of a toss-up... though the Slag is now competition for Pyro.

[Invader Larb]

In the last document I checked the AOE does do Continuous Effect Fire, a la auto-fire.

[Silopolis]

In the last document I checked the AOE does do Continuous Effect Fire, a la auto-fire.

Hey, look at that!

So, if I toss out the AOE, and it deviates onto some dudes, they're all on fire?

[Templar Coyote]

yup. Unless they have immunity to it (like druids + UA)

[McDevious]

Hey, look at that!

So, if I toss out the AOE, and it deviates onto some dudes, they're all on fire?

That is correct. In fact, from the MKII FT Hordes rules:

"The Pyre Troll?s Spew Fire has the Continuous Effect:
Fire weapon quality. Any model hit by the fire spewed by the troll
automatically suffers the Fire continuous effect."


I use him as a backup for power attacks. If your experience during the field test leads you to believe a MAT/RAT switch would be beneficial or a MAT 5 RAT 5 would be appropriate, you should submit that as feedback. Don't stress about the forums.

Sounds good. When I've used him, I honestly don't think the +1 RAT would have made a difference in most cases, but it does seem more appropriate for him to have an impaler-ish MAT / RAT (or RAT / MAT swap if they can't justify the RAT increase on its own).

[Invader Larb]

Again, the RAT is not as important now that he sets things he misses on fire. But feedback what you experienced.

[theummhmmguy]

The only time I use my Pyre in melee is when the game is almost over. THough I have used him more than once to Toss a hero into an enemy caster OR toss an enemy caster closer to my own for the finishing blow.

He is a ranged support beast/animus. While he is okay in Melee, Trolls really have much better choices than the Pyre.

[Steamworks]

I did suggest he gain Combo-Strike for one of my recent feedbacks. AoE auto-burninate is still lovely of course.