Darius?

[Nuriochi_sol]

Is anyone using him? What can he really do now? What am I missing...

I've heard talk about him with Hammersmiths, Stormclads, Ironclads... what troops go well with him? Typically self-reliant stuff? Is he worth the pewter he's made from?

I'm interested in playing him again. Lend me a hand.

[knight_actual]

I've been running him ok against WM, but not so good against hordes or menite.

cuz menites and hordes has an easier time of taking a jack out completely in one turn.

I've found his mines to work well with trencher chain guns - massive amount of area denial.

I have not used alot of full throttle at all. at mat 7, ironclads can hit w/o help usually. that said, i've been doing alot of Darius+centy+ironclad+ironclad.

his schtick is that while he is near his jacks, there is almost nothing you can do to stop his jacks save for killing them.

I like him. casual play with him is fun for both players. Against someone who's making list with primary goal of grinding your face into dirt - competitive-, he wont do so well. his jacks rarely get initiative.

A junior in his list is nice. Arm 23 centurion is much more formidable when backed up by arm 21 ironclads :)

[pureblood]

A junior in his list is nice. Arm 23 centurion is much more formidable when backed up by arm 21 ironclads :)

How do you get a Centurion to Arm 23 and 2 Ironclads to Arm 21 all at the same time?

[Virgil38]

I just used him in two games very successfully, though he really is a one trick pony: Hit it with a 'jack. Not that it is a bad thing, but you need to bring in 'jack support. As strange as it sounds, he needs some Mechaniks with him to keep to hurt on. The reason being is that opponents will do their best to take out a single 'jack, thus forcing your feat when you only have one damaged. In the one game, I mananged to bring an Ironclad back up and running with one Mechanik squad and Arlan with just a bit of paint scratched, and saved my feat for more global damage.

The landmines really help against infantry swarms, especially when placed right in front of your 'jack to prevent charging (or at least make them think twice).

Also I would not take more than 3 jacks with him, and even that is pushing it. The focus just isn't there, and you want the Hammersmith if you can.

Overall I like him.

[hammy44]

I play almost exclusively with Darius and the Nemos. I consider both to be Jack buddies. I have probably logged at least 20 MKII games with Darius. Here are my thoughts, he is not the bad a$$ that he once was. He can still bring the pain but he is no doubt weaker. Issues that I have noticed with D. (A) He used to be able to wade into combat and wreck anything. Not so much any more he is nasty but you have to pick your target and time it right because if you’re not careful he will be exposed and can end up very much dead. Prior to MK II I used to take him into combat with no abandon, now I find my self playing him much safer. Once or twice I charged something and he did not destroy it and I latter regretted taking him into combat. (B) Due to the change in his feat you have to put a premium on keeping your jacks alive so the feat can repair lots of them globally. A good player will try to focus or one shot your jacks and this is an effective and valid tactic which will hurt you badly. I have found the best counter is 2 Centurions with AS and Fort making their ARM respectively 24 and 23. Mechanics can also help with this issue. (C) Although still a very powerful spell fortify has a significant weakness now that it allows your jack to be moved in some ways. The other day I lost a game because a player threw my fortified jack out of contact with Darius and his turtle. D was subsequently charged and killed after being KD. What’s my point, be careful how you deploy your jack line because they are able to exploit it more easily then his previous MK incarnation. Be aware you can be thrown from a fortified situation because, it will now come up and I have honestly lost several games due to this. Lastly and this is HUGE, don’t forget Darius ARM 18 + Arcane Shield ARM +3 + 6 Focus= ARM 27. I have found often times that this will save your butt in a pinch. This was always a tactic but it seems to come up a lot more in MK II. Overall he is still a decent selection but IMHO he is not the man he was. I find that he is fun to play, but hard to win with in a consistent competitive setting.

[Dyoria]

Thanks to a recent argument I had with some of my RL friends, I have become inspired to use Darius.

Darius
-Thunderhead
-Centurion
-Centurion
Field Mechanics (Mech and 2 gobbers)
Field Mechanics (Mech and 2 gobbers)
Captain Arlan Strangeways
Journeyman Warcaster
Reinholdt

The idea is to get Darius behind the Centurions and advance, supported by the field mechanics each behind the Cents, and the Thunderhead and Arlan working together to deal with infantry. Jr is there for the AS and solo killing (double boosted hand cannon). Arlan deals with stealth with is spray, Darius backs him up with the Steam Cannon that double shoots thanks to Reinholdt. The mechanics are there to make sure I don?t have to prematurely blow my feat to keep up a jack. Arlan is also there to get the Thunderhead out of melee so it can Energy Pulse when it gets swarmed by infantry. (Wasnt Arlan immune to electricity before?)

The way I see this working is to outlast my opponent. Darius doesn?t really provide much in offensive boost to his jacks, other then Full Throttle, which I don?t really see being that effective, but what he does provide is a lot of staying power, and hopefully I can grind my opponents down.

[Yaum]

Darius behind 2 Cents ? Now that would be awful slow. And I see Arlan' spray as a last resort at best, with his rat5 and all. I wish you the best of luck man (I love the fatman myself), but I fear that you'll be drastically outmaneuvered.

I recently tried the Charger with fatman, and MY GOD it is beautiful. It is, really. As in angels singing while the sun is setting over the ocean. Yup. We all know the Charger got better, but fatman can actually give him 3 focus (cause he got nothing better to do with it) while any other balanced warcaster normally give it 1 instead.

I also have success with Ol'Rowdy (cause he's so focus efficient) and Arlan marshalling a Defender (Arlan can give a hand as a mecanic and Darius can save the Defender if it gets really crippled).

Now I'm thinking to run Darius with 2 Hammersmiths. Anyone tried it ? I think that 2+ Hammersmith are a great way to get the most out of Full Throttle (which I haven't cast yet, cause I never save focus doing so)

Penny for your thoughts

[Defenstrator]

I haven't played much Darius, but he still likes Centurions for two reasons. The first is because he needs durable jacks in order to use his feat, and the Centurion is the toughest one we have. The second is that you can advance the Centurion into range of something, use it's *action to prevent charges, and then use Darius to Jackhammer away.

I still think he's one of our weaker casters though. With no jack movement abilities, no troop buffs, and always being desperate for focus, you often find yourself making difficult choices. I agree about him wanting people who can repair, although I would take Arlan over the meachnics, and he needs support from units that can take care of themselves.

[raincaller]

Arlan is also there to get the Thunderhead out of melee so it can Energy Pulse when it gets swarmed by infantry. (Wasnt Arlan immune to electricity before?)

He still is his card has a typo there is a post on the old forums about it.:p