View source for Master Necrotech Mortenebra & Deryliss

{{Cryxbox2
|Master {{Necrotech}} Mortenebra
|{{Cryx}} [[Warcaster]]
|Deryliss
|[[Companion]] [[Solo]] }} [[Category: Model]]
{{4U}}

''Master Necrotech Mortenebra, an architect of Cryx’s war industry, has emerged from the smoke and soot to lead her ‘jacks to war. Surrounded by dozens of constructs, the children of her twisted science, and accompanied by her specially designed skarlock thrall Deryliss, Mortenebra has brought a new kind of nightmare to the mainland and spread the darkness of necrotite smoke over the kingdoms of men.''

=Basic Info=
==Mortenebra==
{{Infobox-Model
| name  = [[Mortenebra|Mortenebra1]]
| image = Mortenebra.jpg
| base  = Medium
| spd   = 6
| str   = 7
| mat   = 6
| rat   = 4
| def   = 15
| arm   = 16
| cmd   8 irrelevant 
| focus = 7
| hp    = 16
| wjp   = +28
}}

{{Warcaster}}

===Feat - Recalibration===
While in Mortenebra's {{CTRL}} range, friendly Faction models can [[reroll]] attack and damage rolls this turn. Each roll can be rerolled only once as a result of Recalibration. [[Category: Reroll Feat]]

===Abilities=== 
* {{Undead}}
* {{Pathfinder}}
* {{Interface}}
* {{Repair |d3+3}}
* {{Cull Soul|replenishes its focus|focus}}
* {{Steady}}

===Weapons ===
{| class="wikitable"
{{Melee|Scavengers (x2)|2|5|12|
* {{Magical Damage}}  }}
|}

===Spells===
{{Spellbox|
{{Doom Spiral}}
{{Jumpstart}}
{{Overrun}}
{{Sacrificial Lamb}}
{{Spectral Steel}}
{{Void Gate}}
}}

==Deryliss==
{{Infobox-Model
| name  = Deryliss
| base  = Small
| spd   = 6
| str   = 6
| mat   = 5
| rat   irrelevant 
| ma    = 7
| def   = 14
| arm   = 14
| cmd   = 6 
| hp    = 5
}}

===Abilities===
* {{Undead|Hide_Cat=<!---YES--->}}
* {{Attached 2|Mortenebra|warcaster|Hide_Cat=<!---YES--->}}
* {{Companion|Master Necrotech Mortenebra|Mortenebra|Hide_Cat=<!---YES--->}}
* {{Magic Ability|7|Hide_Cat=<!---YES--->}}
* {{Repair|d3|Hide_Cat=}}

===Weapons ===
* '''Mechano-claws''' - 0.5" reach, {{small|POW 4}}, P+S 10 melee attack

===Spells===
{{Spellbox|
{{Doom Spiral Attack|Hide_Cat=}}
{{Empower Spell|Hide_Cat=<!---YES--->}}
{{Tune Up Spell|Faction warjack|Hide_Cat=<!---YES--->}}
}}

==Theme Forces==
* '''''Cryx
** {{Black Industries}}
** {{Dark Host}}
** {{The Ghost Fleet}}
** {{Scourge of the Broken Coast}}

* '''''Other Factions
** '''[[Infernal]]''' players can use her in the {{Hearts of Darkness|notbold=}} theme.
** '''[[Convergence]]''' and '''[[Mercenary]]''' players can use her in the {{Strange Bedfellows|notbold=}} theme. Deryliss gains [[Swift Vengeance]] in this theme


=Thoughts on Mortenebra1= 
===Mortenebra1 in a nutshell=== 
Mortenebra is a 'jack caster, through and through. All her spells and abilities are designed to let her push bonejacks and helljacks to the limit. She does nothing to help infantry, and although one or two units can be useful to act as a screen to her jacks, most Morty1 players skip units entirely. 

She has durable Iron Lich statline, but her tendency to spend/allocate all her focus while also playing forward means she dies easily. 

Her offensive spells are useful but not stellar, so her focus is usually better spent on allocation, Overrun, and Spectral Steel.

===Feat thoughts===
Her feat is oddly balanced - on any other Cryx caster it would be broken because awesome Cryx infantry + rerolls = bonkers ... but Mortenebra doesn't do <u>anything</u> for infantry except that feat, so it kind of evens out.

Each roll from her feat can only be re-rolled once due to Recalibration, but that doesn't stop it from stacking with other re-roll abilities like the Withershadow Combine's Puppet Master. This feat mainly allows you to rely on math and not worry about poor dice rolls at a crucial moment. Remember that you can re-roll successful rolls in hopes of getting a critical hit.

===Spell thoughts===
* '''Doom Spiral''' is not a bad spell for its cost, but you generally want to be spending your focus on her other spells. but be aware that it's less than guaranteed against tougher targets. Best cast against light 'jacks, particulary if controlled by a junior warcaster.
* '''Jump Start''' is a great counter to knock-down-heavy armies. Otherwise, you'll probably never need to cast it.
* '''Overrun''' is a fantastic spell, as it lets you setup surprise assassination vectors. It can even be used to move Mortenebra.
* '''Sacrificial Lamb''' has incredible value. Morty is likely to be casting this every turn after the first so it will be important to bring a few lambs with the army. Scrap Thralls are probably the best value.
* The ARM boost from '''Spectral Steel''' is nice but the real benefit is Ghostly. Even though this spell can be up-kept between turns, you will probably be hot-swapping it between models as and when you need to activate them.
* '''Void Gate''' is a very situational spell its small AOE and limited effects could presumably prevent an engaged caster fleeing using [[Teleport]] or some such

===Drawbacks & Downsides=== 
* Has no real 'game' against colossals.
* Doesn't support infantry/solos at all.
* Deryliss means she can't take a normal warcaster attachment, and she has a reduced WJP pool to reflect the 'free' solo.
* Attacks that remove from play or disrupt killing are substandard with Mortenebra as they cant trigger overrun. For example the [[Corruptor]] cannot trigger overrun with psychovenom or burster.

===Tricks & Tips=== 
* You can give a warjack a "free" charge - Load up one of her warjacks with 3 focus, then move Mortenebra B2B with it. The warjack can then use Interface to spend Mortenebra's focus to charge, and keep the other 3 to buy/boost attacks.
* This is a silly trick: With the Kraken, use Tune Up on it and then slam something. Tune Up won't affect the slam itself, because it isn't a basic attack, but then you get the Kill Shot and ''that'' will get fully boosted from Tune Up.

=List Building Advice=
===Strategy===
Because of the long range, non-linear movement that Overrun provides, Mortenebra favors winning by assassination.

The key to Mortenebra is Overrun, this spell is extremely powerful. A typical Mortenebra strike will use 4 warjacks:
* Mortenebra activates, casts Overrun on two ranged warjacks, casts Sacrificial Lamb, and feats. Assuming she is upkeeping Spectral Steel from the previous turn,  this leaves her camping 1 focus.
* Both ranged jacks activate, shoot something squishy, and the Overrun triggers letting you move two melee jacks into position. 
* Then you charge the 2 melee jacks in to smash targets your opponent considered safe before. <br>Ideally this target is the enemy casters but if that isn't possible you're looking to take high-value targets off the table, then try the same thing next turn (although without the feat).

It sounds like a gambit, but by using the feat makes it into a near sure thing. Before you get the overrun assassination it is either an amazing threat range extender or can be used to cheat trades as if it were a pocket sprint.

===Battlegroup ===
* A [[Kraken]] is almost guaranteed to trigger Overrun due to sheer firepower. However, Sacrificial Lamb gets more effective with more jacks, and Kraken uses up a lot of points.
* [[Leviathan]]s are decent choices for the same reason as the Kraken, only less extreme. They suffer from random ROF, but can make effective use of Morty's '''Interface''' ability.

===Cryx Theme Thoughts===
Morty is a dedicated jack caster treat her as such. Take warjacks in [[Black Industries]]. Some of the non-jack stuff in BI includes:

* [[Warwitch Siren]] - Whether you are using the Siren(s) to emppwer a jack, place dark binding on a high value target, or capture/contest a point, you are likely to find a use for them.
* [[Scrap Thralls]] are a good '''Sacrificial Lamb''' target, if you kill them, they blow up, so run them into an enemy unit, or next to a squishy solo and roll the dice.
* [[Necrotech]]s are great for her because they make more Scrap Thralls out of wrecked warjacks, and Morty is all about her warjacks.

===Infernal Theme Thoughts ([[Hearts of Darkness]])===
Morty1 is written about in more detail on the [[Theme_-_Hearts_of_Darkness#Mortenebra_and_the_Infernal_Machines|HoD article]], but the short version is: she's not competitive in Hearts of Darkness. However Accumulator and Sac Lamb can let her 'jacks 3 focus every turn which is ... worth mentioning.

If you already have either Infernals or Cryx, and you definitely want to start collecting the other Faction, then you can have fun casual games with her in HoD until you get more models. But if/when you have enough Infernal models to play a different Infernal caster, then you should do that. And if/when you have enough Cryx models to play Mortentenbra in Black Industries, then do that.

===Merc/Convergence Theme Thoughts ([[Strange Bedfellows]])===
Mortenbra's strategy is unchanged in this theme - it's still assassination using overrun from heavy jacks to assassinate, or ocerrun as a "pocket sprint" to either extend threat ranges or cheat trades. The tools she has to do this have changed, however.

{{Header|Non-battlegroup}}

* A [[Transfinite Emergence Projector]] doesn't need her help and doesn't drain her resources. But it loves the rerolls on her feat turn.
* Similar for a [[Void Archon]] or two.
* [[Widget]] can give you an out-of-activation shot on your warjacks, helping trigger Overrun. Use her in conjunction with Deryliss' Tune Up ability.
* [[Scrap Thralls]] as a target for Sac Lamb

{{Header|Battlegroup}}

She can't take a [[Corollary]] because she already has Deryliss, and Power Up plus Sacrificial Lamb can fully power her entire battle group each turn so she tends to steer away from Vectors (although a Vector-heavy list powered by her Sac Lamb spell is decent). She also tends to steer away from Cryx warjacks, mainly because if you wanted to run those then you'd just use the Black Industries theme. This leaves her with the Mercenary warjacks, and their reliable no-frills demeanor suits her well: 

* [[Toro]] has a shield for ARM 20, hits at P+S 18, has reach, has counter-charge, and is only 13 points.
* [[Nomad]] is a reliable 11 points for ARM 18, 19 with the buckler, P+S 18 with Reach, additionally Tried and True actually matters with her access to repair.
* [[Mariner]] has a very good ranged attach to trigger Overrun, and a decently hard-hitting thresher attack to use if it's being overran into combat.
* [[Mule]] with a Tune-Up from Deryliss has decent chances at a mighty [[Critical Devastation]], especially on Morty's feat turn. You can double down on this with:
** [[Eilish1]] giving the Mule Puppet Master for a reroll
** [[Widget1]] giving it an extra shot.
** Another of Morty's jacks giving it an Overrun move, then run it into position, then get Widget to Ancillary attack it... you could pump a Devastation a long way downtown.
* [[Swabber]] sucks in melee - but it has a shield for ARM 20, two range attacks of which one has Drag to give you two chances to kill - and combines well for a fully boosted drag from Widget as movement shenanigans stack.
* [[Galleon]] It's an effective Colossal with both a Power Lifter and a drag. Trade-cheating again.
* [[Blockader]] - It has two rocket fists to smash with and loves rerolls for crit slams on them.
* [[Diffuser]] - the Diffuser may be a Convergence warjack, but it's a requisition option and only needs a single focus (to boost to hit) to give the rest of your army +2" movement and free charges.

=Other=
===Trivia=== 
* Released in [[Legends|Warmachine: Legends]] (2008)
* Sculptor: Jeff Grace
* Mortenebra is among the most infuriating model in the game to assemble. If you would like to pin the arms and Scavengers, you will have to use very thin pieces of wire such as guitar strings and very small (#75-#80) drill bits. The best approach is to use light amounts of glue and start with the bottom row of legs and move up the model, placing the Scavengers and her head last. The use of needle nose pliers and/or tweezers is highly recommended.
* Nickname(s): Morty
* For Deep Lore, see [[Lore - Cryx characters]]

===Video Battle Reports ===
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IASrDrHBZrI 2019.11 Feat Fetish], vs [[Malakov2|Malakov2 (as an Infernal)]]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTECgMRw5vQ 2019.11 Advanced Maneuvers], vs [[Locke1]]
* {{VBR}}

===Other Cryx models===
{{Index Cryx}} 

===Rules Clarifications=== 
{{RCbox2|Name= Feat :Recalibration
|font_size=85%
|list=* You have to re-roll the entire dice roll, not just the crappy low die.
* Models need to be on the table to gain the reroll bonus. Things which do damage by exploding may or may not gain the benefits, depending on when they are removed from the table vs when the attack/damage is resolved.
** Example 1, Bloat thralls and Scrap thralls say "Centre an AOE and remove this model from play. Models in the AOE suffer X damage" so they don't get the reroll bonus because damage is resolved after removing the model.
** Example 2, Bile thralls say "Everything is hit and suffers X damage. After attack is resolved remove this model from play" so they do get the bonus.
* Doesn't work for the D3 damage from 'Doom Spiral,' because that is not a "proper" damage roll.}}

{{RC Magical Damage}}
{{RC Warcaster}}
{{RC Undead}}
{{RC Pathfinder}}
{{RC Interface}}
{{RC Repair}}
{{RC Cull Soul}}
{{RC Steady}}

{{RC Attached}}
{{RC Companion}}
{{RC Magic Ability}}
{{RC Empower}}
{{RC Tune Up}}

{{RC Doom Spiral}}
{{RC Jumpstart}}
{{RC Overrun}}
{{RC Sacrificial Lamb}}
{{RC Spectral Steel}}
{{RC Void Gate}}

{{Edbox|To edit Deryliss's tagged abilities, [{{FULLURL:Master_Necrotech_Mortenebra:Deryliss_(Companion)|action=edit}} Click here]}}