pFeora tactica

[Soylent]

Stats
Second only to her epic form, pFeora has the best statlines for a Menoth caster and one of the best in the game. Average SPD for a melee caster she sports the best DEF/ARM combo Menoth has to offer adding up to 32(I commonly add the DEF and ARM to as a means to rate a models survivability, not word of law). She has the RAT of a melee caster as well but a defining difference is that her ranged attack is a spray which with the way spray attacks work now her RAT is respectable. On the high end for CMD, she can keep things from running though with how many fearless models we have it may or may not come into play, but it's good and there if needed. Her MAT is a little on the lowside for a melee casterbut thankfully it is overcome by Engine of Destruction and two initial attacks. Finally her FOC is in the mid range for a melee caster which is on the lower end of average for Menoth. Pretty much a cut and paste from eFeora with a few changes.


Abilities

Immunity: Fire
While not a spectacular ability in and of itself, it can be a game breaker when facing off with another Menoth player or Legion ranged beasts like Serephs. If she happens to be tied up by enemy fodder you can always drop a Vanquisher, Repenter or Cleanser template with little fear of hurting her...though with her armor she has little to fear from blast damage anyways.

Insperation [Flameguard]
Makes all Flameguard models fearless/rally within her Command Range. A nice ability that may seem redundant with her high command and access to commanders. However if you want to take Cleansers, TFG and Daughters(all rather inexpensive) but don't want to splurge on a commander then it's value starts to show.


Weapons

Flame Thrower x2
There are two significant advantages of having dual spray templates. First is coverage. If in range, you can hit many a model with these. Second is that you can lay one over the top of the other which gives you two attack rolls on the same models, making her accuate and focus effeciant when it comes to her ranged attacks. Add the fact the new spray rules in that it ignores just about everything as well as it has the fire continuous effect and you have a fairly potent weapon. Don't over look these. It should be noted that the damage type is fire so make note of it when facing enemies that have the immunity.

Truth & Consequence
On their own they are not that impressive for a melee caster(lack of reach and lower P&S) other than she has two initial attacks, which is significant. What makes her potent is her spell, Engine of Destruction, which turns her into a fearsome beatstick. They are magical and have crit fire though there is nothing worth putting fire on that she's swinging at...if it survives.


Feat: Scorched Earth
Simple in it's use and application, this feat is what it is. Against some lists it is nothing more than a tickle, against others it is devistating. Every enemy model in 12" of pFeora suffers the fire continuous effect. Statisticly 2/3s of your opponent's army(in her control area) will be taking a POW12 damage roll. While MK2 is seeing a much improved jack(seemingly making her feat less effective), troops and support are still valuable and will be on the board in a majority of games. Even still, a POW12 against an ARM18 jack can put a dent in over a few turns.


Spells

Blazing Effigy
One of her signiture spells this requires you to have a jack, thankfully in Mk2 you'll want to take one. The nice thing about this spell is it autohits everything within 2" of the target jack and with a respectable power. This can be enough to kill many casters and it has a sneaky way of getting places due either from the jack running, trampleing, slamming, charging. The only real downside is it's cost which can be mitigated with a Hierophant and Wracks. This spell should be looked to to either free up a jack, kill mass troops(even multiwound) or go for the assassination.

Engine of Destruction
No longer a signiture spell, it is a defining spell in her arsenal letting her become a SPD8, MAT10, P&S17 on two inital attacks for two focus. She can and will drop just about anything she hits making her an excellent assassination option. With the meta shift towards jacks she can pound them down with the greatest of ease as she presses closer to her goal. At two focus you may want to consider the hierophant and Wracks to give her a few extra attacks or boosts though she may not need it.

Hex Hammer
d3 damage to any enemy model that casts a spell or animus in her control area...pretty straight forward. You'll likely know when and when not to cast and upkeep this spell. This is the bane of Greylords, Druids, JMWC, Magisters, ect. It can even do some respectable damage to casters who are liberal with their spell casting(such as Denny or the Coven) though spellslingers will likely be haning back so you may have to be aggressive(and catious) in getting to work. Not a spell you'll use every game but it's handy to have in her arsenal.

Ingnite
A great spell that is a staple for a couple of our casters. This simply improves a model/units hitting power. Very straight forward. It does cause crit fire which is something to remember when facing off against multiwound or tough models. Unit, jack, solo are all good targets for it. Not particulary suitable for Daughters(unless fighting Cryx), most Menoth melee models are good canidates. You can always place it on pFeora as well, stacking it with Engine of Destruction, giving her a P&S19 and up to 4-6 attacks(again hierophant, wracks)which is enough to make a Devistator wet itself.

Immolation
A spell shared by many Menoth casters, Immolation is great for surgically removing a single target. If you need something removed and you don't think the feat is enough or can't worry about the 1 in 3 chance of the fire going out then cast this. Most of the time though this spell will be redundant.

Wall of Fire
A great little spell for dictating the movement of low armor models when you want to stop charge lanes or advance distances. Unfortunately it does little against heavy armor(or medium armor with multiwounds). Another use for it is to place it ahead of pFeora and have her advance into it, giving her concealment, bumping her DEF to 17 which puts her outside of boostable range(on average rolls).


Jack choices
Focus effeciency is key when choosing jacks for pFeora. Outside of Ignite, she has no boosts for them other than focus and she likes to keep her focus close to her. Fortunately we have a few jacks that work well with little to no focus. Four jacks come to mind when choosing, the Avatar, Fire of Salvation, Vanquisher and Devout. My only other recommmendation would be a Crusader and thats only to use up her jack points in the event that you didn't want to take a jack or have the Avatar.

The Avatar is the creme de la creme for pFeora. It can be targeted by both Ignite and Blazing Effigy and it requires no focus from her(despite the fact that she couldn't if she wanted to). If you're going to take a jack then this would be it, even if you can't use jack points on it, the Avatar more than makes up for it's cost.

Fire of Salvation is great in that for 1 focus all attacks are boosted and it gains attacks each time it destroys a model with a melee weapon. Pretty simple.

Vanquisher is on the lowest end of my choices as it does a lot of what pFeora does already, clear troops. It does however need little to no focus to run efficiently. It can range further ahead without the risk of hanging pFeora out in the open but still, I'd rather have the Avatar or FoS.

Devout is a good choice. It's an inexpensive jack that offers protection to pFeora with little investment. In a pinch it can be a good target for Blazing Effigy.


Troop choices
While Inspiration is nice, I wouldn't use it as a deciding factor for troops, just an added bonus. As she excells in troop clearing, you should focus more on troops with hitting power and defensive abilities. Bastions, TFG, Errants are solid choices which do well in blending defensive and offensive power which are ideal targets for Ignite. KE, Idrians and Vengers fall in the hitting power category. Zealots are a good option as well for defensive and offensive capability though they do not benifit from Ignite. Due to the fact that you won't run as many jacks with her it's easy to have an extra unit or two with pFeora.


Solos and support
While she's not a jack caster, if you invest the points into the Avatar or FoS then it's a good idea to bring along a Vassal and Chior. At the very least a Vassal. The Covenant, as always, is a no brainer. pFeora will likely have quite a few points for solo's to play with. One of my favorites would be Gravus if you have the exemplars to support him. Gorman isn't a bad choice either.


Weaknesses
The lack of finesse makes pFeora extremely predictable, 9 times out of 10 she'll be marching up the field. Obviously models with high armor or immunity to fire will nulify her feat so make sure you're able to deal with them if they arrive. She does well at cracking armor but you may not want to hang her out there to do so, again make sure you have options to crack the armor.

She's very focus dependant. If you're going to do something with her focus, you're doing little else. Again this can make her predictable and your opponent can dictate what she does with that focus. Having multiple vecotors of attack will do well to keep your opponent from forcing your moves.

Feora doen't do much for your army. She's quite different than all other Menoth casters which support and synergize, she's more of a super solo which has her army to support her. This limits her choices when building an effective army with her.

[Soylent]

Tactics
Advance every turn. If you're not pressing the battle and pFeora at your enemy you're fighting a loosing battle. pFeora NEEDS to be up there or she's not doing anything. Use Hex Hammer against models who would be affected by it otherwise the name of the game is protect your advance as you flame your opponents army, split their jacks/beasts and look to create/find opportunities for the assassination.

[Nargacuga]

Has anyone had much luck with blazing effigy on dervishes?

Iit seems like they could get into where they need to be pretty easily.

[n00buaddib]

The trick with blazing effigy for me (and I play pFeora in about 4 out of 5 games) is, you shouldn't try to let it happen. It's a situational spell and as weird as it sounds, the less you use it, the more likely your opponents are to forget it exists. That makes casting it on a jack surrounded by infantry all the sweeter. :P

It does strip most of her focus away so it's not worth it killing a single trooper or two.

Nice read Soylent, I couldn't agree more on the avatar bit. My pFeora armies usually include: Crusader (too cheap to pass in mk II), Avatar, Devout (just one, used to take two), Knights Exemplar (for Ignite), Choir, Vassal, Book. The rest depends on what I feel like taking that day, it isn't important as loon as you know how to use it. Vilmon, Seneschal, Gravus, an extra melee jack, TFG,...

I'd only really add this: pFeora doesn't really need arcnodes and melee jacks (provided you have choir) are always good, because Menite jacks basically have +2 mat and power when you need it. Otherwise, jackwall still works in mk II and Feora likes it. And firewall is probably my favourite spell of hers (EoD doesn't really count, it's like an inbuilt god mode for 2 focus :P ). Even if it doesn't burn anything the whole game, place it to block charge lanes from stuff like Doom Reavers and all sorts of chargy infantry or even high armoured stuff. Try to deploy with it in mind, create bottlenecks where you can block the way with it and force your opponent into difficult decisions. Can those wolfriders survive an automatic power 12 now AND fire damage later? How about those champions? Everything burns eventually.

Again, great write up Soylent. Kudos for that.

[Cannotcope]

FWIW, I disagree about this bit on Crit fire for her melee weapons. Warcasters that she failed to kill by a few points (typically because of camped focus or somewhat unlucky rolls) are perfect targets for Fire, as Fire still cares not about camped focus and happily whacks away at base armour. It won't always save you, but in many cases it may.

Of course I wouldn't boost your attack rolls for the Crit, if you don't already need to boost to hit, but I wouldn't refuse a Crit that happens in the normal course of rolling her attacks.

[Soylent]

FWIW, I disagree about this bit on Crit fire for her melee weapons. Warcasters that she failed to kill by a few points (typically because of camped focus or somewhat unlucky rolls) are perfect targets for Fire, as Fire still cares not about camped focus and happily whacks away at base armour. It won't always save you, but in many cases it may.

Of course I wouldn't boost your attack rolls for the Crit, if you don't already need to boost to hit, but I wouldn't refuse a Crit that happens in the normal course of rolling her attacks.

Chances are you're using EoD to go in for the kill(as one should) and I have yet to see a caster survive. Though I'm sure it could happen with a few casters that can camp on an absurd ammount of focus/souls though in those rare cases you shouldn't be going in for the kill. And as you alluded to you'll likely not need to boost to hit(MAT10) which lessens the chance of a crit. If she didn't have crit fire on her weapons, I wouldn't miss it.

[Marius]

Soylent, re Immunity Fire, it's not just the blast damage your protecting against with stuff like Vanq shots into her, but also being set on fire, which is a much greater threat to most warcasters than the actual blasts. Also, i do believe Legion warbeasts tend to have fire based ranged attacks. Could be useful there too.

Feora, saying FU to Seraph Spam since '09 .

[Malfunction]

Just one point that I would add is a reminder that power attacks and slams can open up charge lanes on her kill run......

[Soylent]

Soylent, re Immunity Fire, it's not just the blast damage your protecting against with stuff like Vanq shots into her, but also being set on fire, which is a much greater threat to most warcasters than the actual blasts. Also, i do believe Legion warbeasts tend to have fire based ranged attacks. Could be useful there too.

Feora, saying FU to Seraph Spam since '09 .

Thanks for bringing that up, I wrote this before the Hordes field test came out and will freshen it up a bit especially in light of the KSB/SSE. Though we need to remember it's still in field test and it could change come Jan 17th.

[Cannotcope]

Chances are you're using EoD to go in for the kill(as one should) and I have yet to see a caster survive. Though I'm sure it could happen with a few casters that can camp on an absurd ammount of focus/souls though in those rare cases you shouldn't be going in for the kill. And as you alluded to you'll likely not need to boost to hit(MAT10) which lessens the chance of a crit. If she didn't have crit fire on her weapons, I wouldn't miss it.

True enough. I doubt I'd miss the critical fire. I just had issues with the word "never" and I've muffed enough attack/damage rolls with her that Fire (typically her feat though) has come in to save my <censored>.

Anyway, it's not something you should count on or even try to use, but if it works, think of it as a bonus.

Oh, and Fire immunity is a bit gross. As a Legion player, I'm quite annoyed that many of our attacks are damage type: Fire and/or Cold and/or Corrosion, which makes a large number of models total immune to them (as you only need immunity to one type to gain immunity to an attack with multiple damage types...) This is also one of the huge benefits of running trolls now (as they can throw around immunities with their elemental trolls...).

FWIW, Cleansers having fire immunity and damage type fire sprays means that they can target models in their own unit to line up the perfect spray, without worrying about taking "friendly fire." Feora (both) can also be a target for this.

[Dewbakuk]

FWIW, Cleansers having fire immunity and damage type fire sprays means that they can target models in their own unit to line up the perfect spray, without worrying about taking "friendly fire." Feora (both) can also be a target for this.

Indeed they can. I just gave a legion player a shock with that one. Torched his unit by targetting mine

[Rikash]

One thing I'd like to add. Repenters are actually decent with her. They do infantry clearing, but one can be useful for cleaning any surviving enemy off of Feora to let her go about her business. It's not an ideal use but it's not terrible either.

Added to the Canon of the True Law. Nice write up.

[Mumble]

The trick with blazing effigy for me (and I play pFeora in about 4 out of 5 games) is, you shouldn't try to let it happen. It's a situational spell and as weird as it sounds, the less you use it, the more likely your opponents are to forget it exists. That makes casting it on a jack surrounded by infantry all the sweeter. :P

Oh! I have a question. I'm still pretty new with the game, but I was playing Feora and had a chance to use this spell. Now I roll 2d6 + 6 (Feora's focus) and who's defense do I need to beat?

[haunter1029]

Nobody's. It's a friendly spell she auto casts on any of her jacks she just has to be in range.(of the spell) Then anything within 2' of jack is auto hit. Great write up btw.

[Moonblade]

I think bringing Cleansers is redundant in a pFeora list. She's able to decimate any kind of non-Fire Immune infantry in a single feat turn. What she needs is long-range support, or weaponmasters / High-ARM breakers with little to no focus to be the target of Ignite. Weaponmaster units and the Avatar are good choices for this reason.

By the way, great write-up.

[Soylent]

Since I can't edit the post, as it has me labeled as a guest, I will say Daughters are a fine target for Ignite. I've put a lot of damage on casters and beasts beyond the auto point. Though if your targets are single wound living models then Ignite becomes redundant.

[Asheth]

I think bringing Cleansers is redundant in a pFeora list....

Disagree. a min unit can use the CRA they have to put Feora in a firey cloud effect/block LOS and can be used alongside wall of fire to further herd the enemy in the direction you desire. Also the feat is not guarenteed to work so they can act as a viable back up in such a situation.

[Apostate]

I agree with Asheth, The CRA with the cleansers is ignored at the enemies peril, and the difficult thing is to get feora to the front and that cloud helps a lot. Coupled with her fire wall you should be able to deny large assault lanes.

[Blackraine]

I'd add one thing to this... in every pFeora list I make, I concentrate on taking models that can clear non-infantry out of the charge lane. Her feat does a pretty good job at thinning out the infantry, but for 'jacks, you need something more hurtful than continuous effect Fire (and, importantly, something that's not going to leave behind a wreck that will block her charge lane and slow her down!) As such, I always take a pair of Exemplar Seneschals, two of some combination of Guardians and Templars, and the reclaimers to run them. Templars, with their beatback, are the more surefire method, but sometimes you need to move a model more than an inch or two. Guardians can throw two or more models a turn (one with a power attack throw, the others with critical pitch) which can be incredibly useful in removing a 'jack wall from pFeora's charge lane.

Once you have the models to shuffle the enemy around, the pFeora list becomes pretty simple... just wait for them to end their turn in your control area and commence the assassination run.

[StefDa]

6months necro, holy cow.

[Blackraine]

It's only kind of a necro... it's stickied at the top (under Canon of the True Law), and I'm just adding to the Tactica.

[FranzGrenstein]

So how does she perform with the new sanctifiers, are they perfered with her?

[Exemplar's_Gaze]

I have actually been running her with a Sanctifier, the Avatar and Rorsch and Brine.

All three are completely self-sufficient and that's exactly what pFeora wants. All she has to do is slap Ignite on whomever is going in. And it is always funny giving Brine sizzling bacon fists!

[Snipafist]

I'd also like to see how she fares with a Judicator once people have a chance to give it a whirl. pFeora ALMOST has enough anti-infantry by herself, and I'd think a Judicator could be a good way to give her enough anti-infantry in a fairly focus-efficient package that can also throw down in melee. In the right circumstances, it's also an amazing Burning Effigy target and can screen Feora when necessary.

[JasoMac]

I think she would do well with a Judicator, though eFeora with a Judicator is so gross that I will obviously have to try that first. You would miss out on putting Burning Effigy on that giant based model but I don't know how many infantry models would be able to get that close to the Judicator to make it worthwhile.

[Venom321]

I believe this is missing a couple things. Blazing effigy with dervish can be amazing and ignite on it can take out heavies. Also note that she doesn' have to super solo it up with hex hammer and fire wall she can play very passive aggressive forcing the enemy to come at her in a direction best suited for her army. She can support quite well she doesn't always have to be aggressive. I do like the TFG with her just to wall her off and her stats are great even if she has no focus.