Ravyn, Eternal Light

Figured I'd help out Desertspiral since he seems to be going for the completion thing. Ravyn, Eternal Light

• Introduction


• Base Stats and Abilities


• Spells


• Feats


• Synergies

Ravyn is yet another of the inital rollout casters for the Retribution. She's defined by preferring a ranged list, but many of her abilities are geared towards melee. While her buffs tend to be ranged-centric she also has buffs available for other aspects of the Retribution warmachine. Her stats are pretty solid all around and her spell list is suprisingly versatile for being so small and having such a large number of focus intesive spells for a caster with her average focus stat.

One area that often makes opponents heads spin is Ravyn's card. She has a combination of abilities many casters would sell their soul (or phylactery) to have and the statement "only model in the game" can be made about more than a few combinations of special rules on her card. With Vortex of Destruction up she can deal out a lot of damage, but she can also murder infantry so well even eButcher starts to tear up and begins a slow clap.

Base Stats and Abilities:

Ravyn's stat-line marks her as a fighter pretty quickly. She's got average SPD, but with Reach still has a good threat range. Her MAT and RAT are the same and solid and tied with Virtuoso and Gunfighter giving her two initial attacks and Vortex of Destruction buffing her damage she can put out enough damage to bring down most targets by herself. Combine that with the ease by which she can extend her threat range by simply shooting single wound models and she's a legitimate threat even from suprising distances away.

I'll forego the veiled stats since they simply don't seem that relevent to article as a whole or understanding thereof.

Hellbore: Ranged 12", AOE -, POW 12, Magical, Blaster

Blade: Melee, P+S 13, Magical, Reach, (*Attack) Threasher

Gunfighter: Can make ranged attacks while engaged in melee up to melee range.

Virtuoso: Can make Melee and Ranged attacks in the same activation and makes both initial attacks during combat actions.

Quick Work: When this model destroys enemy models with melee attack during combat action, makes a ranged attack ignoring ROF.

Swift Hunter: When this model destroys enemy models with ranged attack, it can advance up to 2" after the attack is resolved.

I feel like there's an entire article to write solely for Ravyn's abilities. So Ravyn can attack with both weapons, every melee attack generates a ranged attack and every ranged attack generates 2" of movement. More than that though, both of her weapons have ways to hit multiple enemies with a single attack (Threasher and Blaster). Blaster is better againt high DEF, low ARM enemies and Threasher is best against high ARM low DEF enemies. Unfortunately Threasher is a *Attack, so she can only make one in place of her initials. Note that while Threasher will keep her from making the initial ranged attack with her gun, she can still buy the shot back using focus because the weapon hasn't met it's ROF. If Ravyn charges an enemy, then uses her ranged attack and makes it a Blaster, the enemy will be so close that she really can't miss. While a POW 6 blast damage roll may no seem like much Vortex of Destruction can make it lethal for most infantry.One thing to look at is that buying melee attacks will also generate ranged attacks, so Ravyn is basically buying 2 attacks in one which on top of Blaster and Threasher and her ability to move around quickly in a formation thanks to Swift Hunter makes her a terror against most infantry formations. Another fun note is that while Quick Work only works in the combat action, Swift Hunter works at all times including free strikes which Ravyn can make with her ranged attack thanks to Gunfighter. I feel there's about 2 more paragraphs of advanced "Sequence of Destruction" tactics to be had, which I may do later, but for now we'll move on.

Spells:

Snipe: Target Model/Unit gets +4 RNG.

Snipe is amazing for it's simplicity. More threat range is such a simple buff, but so important for a ranged army. Being able to fight from further away than your opponent is a useful feature in any army and with many of the Retribution units naturally good RNG it can often mean attacking without being attacks. A few notes it that it doesn't stack with the Snipe ammuntion from Stormfalls because both abilities have the same name, but it can still enable them to shoot Brutal Shots and Star Strikes out to 16" instead of the usual 12". Snipe does however stack with Extended Fire fromt he Dawnguard Invictors to give the unit an 18" range on the turn they use the ability. The Mage Hunter Strike Force with their Commander still makes the best use of the ability. Phantom Seeker allowing them to ignore Line of Sight combined with a 16" RNG makes it exceptionally difficult for things to hide from the unit. Ravyn's Mage Hunter Strike Force has killed many casters because of this.

Locomotion: Pay up to 3 foucs, move a jack in Ravyn's Battlegroup 1" for each focus spent. A model can only be affected by Locomotion once per turn.

Locomotion is an interesting spell with varied uses. Simply moving a jack forward to get better range is the most obvious and tied to Retribution jacks naturally high SPD Ravyn's heavies can typically get the drop on enemy heavies. One other thing to remember though is that out of activation movement can also be used defensively. Moving Discordia up to take a shot with her spray, then pulling her back with a 3" walk can allow her to get shots in while keeping her safe. You can also use it to adjust formations on the fly or correct Line of Sight issues without having to activate the jack when you don't want to. It usually requries a good bit of focus to get the most out of, but putting a heavy where your opponent didn't anticipate can win games.

Eliminator: RNG 8, POW 13, AOE 3. Immediately after the attack is resolved, this model moves up to 2" for each model killed.

Eliminator costs Ravyn half of her focus to cast even if she doesn't want to boost anything and in many cases is highly lackluster. One intereting interaction to note however is Vortex of Destruction (wow this spell comes up a lot). If Ravyn gets up close to a target she can easily get to a distance where the AOE can't miss much like Blaster and also like Blaster, the blast damage seems pretty low until Vortex buffs the damage which will kill most infantry on average. This can be used in a rather interesting slingshot maneuver where Ravyn charges a group of infantry, getting as close as possible to limit deviation, then before making her attacks, casts Eliminator. Since she has ended her movement within melee range of her target, it's still a successful charge and when Ravyn gets done with her Eliminator movement, she'll still have both initial attacks. She won't get the boost for charging, but since Vortex is up, all attacks are already boosted. This can be used as a suprise assassination, but since you're upkeeping Vortex and Casting Eliminator, you have to be able to get the enemy caster with only 2 focus and 2 initials. Not impossible mind you, but you have to do a bit of math before setting out on this.

Veil of Mists: Place a 4" AOE completely within this models Ctrl area. The AOE is a cloud effect that doesn't block LOS for friendly faction models and friendly faction models gain Pathfinder and can move through other models and obstructions if they have enough movement to move completely past them.

So VoM is commonly used as a simple 4" AOE to block LOS. This isn't a bad idea and LOS control can be very important and can stop assassinations cold. It can also control charges of melee troops or hide key models from ranged units. However, the rest of the spell can still be important. Pathfinder is something the Retribution can't give out to things that don't already have it making Ravyn the only caster that can allow Sentinels or other melee troops charge over linear obstacles. Moving through models can also be useful, but since you still take free strikes, usually it's only useful for a jack. This does deserve a good bit of consideration though, since Retribution jacks have a healthy buffer in their shields before the damage will start to knock out systems. More than a few casters have been suprised by a Retribution jack walking through their army to beat them to a pulp.

Vortex of Destruction: Damage rolls against enemy models in this model's melee range are automatically boosted.

For a spell so simple, this does more than most paragraph-long spells. The most important feature is how broad the spell is. It doesn't matter where the damage roll is coming from or even if Ravyn can see the target, only that it's an enemy model in Ravyn's melee range. The most obvious use is simply having Ravyn beat face with the spell and that's perfectly valid. Her weapons are pretty average POW, but toss on Vortex and she hits hard enough to bring down most targets. The less obvious use is buffing damage rolls opponents usually don't consider. For example, fire damage rolls from the fire continous effect are boostable, but because they occur outside of activation nobody can boost them. Nobody but Ravyn with Vortex up. POW 12 with 3D6 can easily be enough to finish off a damage heavy jack or wipe out infantry. Then it also boosts AoE damage. Ravyn is pretty immune to most blast damage if she's holding some focus or Discordia is using her imprint, but models around her tend to die really fast against boosted blast damage like a unit of Stormfalls putting rounds into the melee or the afforementioned Ravyn's own Blaster and Eliminator. But it also boosts enemy damage rolls. Threashers, AOEs, missing Ravyn and hitting their own model in melee, sprays etc. There are many ways an enemy can hit their own model near Ravyn and not expect the damage to be boosted. Then there's also the possibility of knocking enemies down using Slams or Throws and running Ravyn into melee range, then having her army shoot them. Or against lower defense targets like Jacks or beasts, simply having Ravyn Feat to get boosted hits so the army can shoot through the target in melee penalty. Finally it's important to note that Vortex doesn't require LoS, only melee range. If there are enemy models in base contact in front of a key model of the same base size and Ravyn can get close enough, she can get them in the Vortex wihtout even having to worry about the target in melee penalty. This is more rare than anything else mentioned, but is still important to remember as it can be very useful. This is a great spell, so simple, yet with so many nuances to be exploited by someone who knows how.

Feat

Fire Storm: Friendly Faction models gain boosted ranged attack rolls and Swift Hunter for a turn.

Very Straightfoward as is it's uses. The army gets accurate for a turn and can use that accuracy to mow down the enemy or assassinate the caster. The Swift Hunter part is often forgotten, but using it to continue an advance or move back after shooting can be really useful. There just isn't much to say, everything you need to know about Fire Storm is there. It's both simple and devastating.

Synergies

Yes.

Seriously, she can move a jack out of activation, buff damage, buff ranged to hit rolls, give Pathfinder to melee units, control LOS, add to ranged unit threat ranges and kill heavy jacks or 10 pt units by herself. Finding things she doesn't have buffs for is actually harder.

That being said, she does like having a ranged army to get the most out of Snipe and Fire Storm and Rettribution has a lot of ranged units to choose from. The Mage Hunter Strike Force with Ravyn is practically a thing of legend with their ability to advance Deploy and shoot through a staggering array of defensive buffs to kill casters. Ravyn can easily remedy the low RAT of Stormfalls by Sniping them allowing them to aim with their Brutal Shots and Star Strikes out to 16" or simply feating for the boost. Invictors with Combined Arms and Fire Storm are pretty much garaunteed to hit whatever they shoot at and can have an 18" RNG if they use Exnteded Fire and Ravyn Snipes them. Houseguard Riflemen can have an 18" RNG all the time and Fire Storm with their mini feat can get you 4D6 for the attack roll or two turns of rolling 3D6 and since they can CRA into melee Vortex of Destruction finds new and fun uses.

Pretty much any heavy jack gets good with Ravyn. Discordia may not be able to use Snipe, but Fire Storm makes that spray devastating and with Swift Hunter she can back off when she's done or move up to engage enemies against a gunline. The Manticore with Snipe and Firestorm has a pretty stupid threat range since each of its 3 shots will generate Swift Hunter movment meaning the thing can move up to 6" total and with Snipe is shooting 16". The Phoenix loves getting an extra 3" walk from Locomotion before using combusiton giving Ravyn's Phoenix the best combustion threat range and Snipe compensates for the comparatively short RNG gun. Then tack on Vortex for any of the above heavies and they'll send enemy heavies sailing into orbit easily enough. Toss in Veil of Mists to block charge lanes to them and Ravyn's heavy is living the good life. You will note though, that do to high focus costs of her spells and her desire to upkeep both Vortex and Snipe, that Ravyn generally only wants one heavy, so she can get the most out of her spells.

There's a good bit more, but it all feels terribly redundant. Things with guns can get awesome, things that fight get free damage and Pathfinder. Then entire army gets a caster that beats face with the best of them and will eat any unit or jack left unattended. Her army wants at least one or two ranged units, usually with a single jack to let her use her spell list, but beyond that, much of it is personal preference.