Xerxis, Fury of Halaak

Gifted with unparalleled skill, discipline, and ferocity as a warrior and a general, Xerxis, Fury of Halaak becomes truly awe-inspiring when he crashes through battle lines atop his cerops mount, Surus. As Xerxis punches through enemy lines, the entire might of his cohort surges to follow, inspired by their tyrant’s example. Before him and his matchlessly disciplined troops, fortifications topple and ranks of defenders scatter like sand in the wind.

Basic Info

This model is a Warlock.

Warlock Rules A warlock is an Independent Model. a Leader model. a Battlegroup Controller controls warbeasts. Warlocks use Fury Manipulation Uses ARC to determine how many fury points it gains each turn. Begins the game with a number of fury points equal to its ARC. Cannot exceed its ARC stat in fury points as a result of leeching. Can spend fury points only during its activation (unless a special rule states otherwise) for the following: Buy additional attacks Boost attack rolls Boost damage rolls Shake some effects Can leach fury points from warbeasts in its battlegroup in its control range. Spirit Bond allows the warlock to gain a fury for each of its dead battlegroup warbeasts. Reaving allows the warlock to pull fury points from a warbeast in its battlegroup when it dies.

Feat : Hand of the Ancients

1. All models are considered to be in Xerxis's Template:CTRL range.
2. Friendly Faction models gain an additional die on attack and damage rolls. For each of those rolls, discard one die of your choice.

Hand of the Ancients lasts for one turn.

Abilities

• Template:Cavalry
• Template:Pathfinder
• Template:Tough
• Field Marshal [ [[:Category:{{{ability}}}|{{{ability}}}]] ]

[[Category:{{{ability}}}]]

• Template:Sprint
• Template:Trample Power Attack

Weapons

Lamentor
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		2				7				15
Template:Magical Weapon Template:Brutal Charge
War Standard
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		2				4				12
Only Xerxis would use a flag to hit people with.
Mount
File:Mount icon.jpg		RNG						POW
		0.5						14
Template:Knockdown Template:Pitch Special Attack

Spells

{{Category: Template:IgniteTemplate:RapportTemplate:Stranglehold }}[[Category: Template:IgniteTemplate:RapportTemplate:Stranglehold ]]

Theme Forces

Xerxis has a bonded warbeast, Tiberion, he can take in any theme.

• Template:Disciples of Agony
• Template:Masters of War. Unlike most Skorne warlocks, Xerxis2 does not get the "Optional Take Down" benefit in this theme (because he isn't a warrior model).
• Template:The Exalted
• Template:Winds of Death

Thoughts on Xerxis, Fury of Halaak

Xerxis, Fury of Halaak in a nutshell

Xerxis is a very big and powerful warlock that has a battlegroup buff, and a feat that is all round excellent. His beasts move fast and hit hard - and what more could you want? His huge base possibly makes him not the most competitive warlock but it's a very fun, 'pedal to the metal' playstyle.

Feat Thoughts

• A discard die on almost everything, including ranged and magic attacks, is very versatile. About the only things it doesn't affect are damage rolls which are "not considered to be damage from a model" such as collateral damage and Electro Leaps.
• Unlike Signs and Portents, Xerxis' feat allows you to drop ANY die (not just the lowest). This can be useful when you're trying to get a critical
  • Example: If Tiberion needs a '4+' to hit with his Tetsubo and rolls a 2-2-4, you can drop the '4' die, still hit the target, and choose to use the Crit:Smite ability on the Tetsubo.
  • You can also use this to drop the highest roll against your own friendly models, in case you are forced to make attacks against them like with a spray or trample.

Spell Thoughts

There isn’t a lot of complexity or nuisance to Xerxis’s spell list. Stranglehold isn’t really worth casting on a fury 5 caster but you have enough spare to upkeep Rapport and Ignite as well as cycle one of them, but not both. Use Rapport into high Def and Ignite into high armour, combine either with the feat and no one is safe.

• Rapport - can give any warbeast MAT 8 and thus threatens to assassinate any caster your beasts can get close to.
  • Choosing to use Xerxis' MAT or RAT with Rapport is always optional. That means warbeasts can ignore Xerxis' abysmal RAT 4 when using ranged weapons against enemy models. You can also use the lower RAT if you are potentially rolling to hit against your own models, say with a spray attack.
  • Rapport + his feat makes an incredibly accurate beast.

• Ignite - is a damage buff. Just useful.
  • With Xerxis’s feat you have more chance of triggering the crit effect by selecting the die you wish to drop.

• Stranglehold - is a zap. Nothing complex, although it's useful from Aptimus Marketh. Because it’s effect triggers on damage and because he is Fury5 it isn’t a safe spell for Xerxis to cast himself; it is often better to just cycle one of the above. If you are still planning to cast it with the guy utilise Xerxis’s feat and a Immortal Vessel to help it stick.
  • Stranglehold plus knockdown is essentially a stationary that can't be fully shaken.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• He's a big target. His defensive stats are made much worse by having a big base, which leaves a lot of places to get attacks on him.
• Trampling requires a clear "landing zone", thus, very difficult to do with a huge based model. It's also only POW 8.
• Outside of his feat, his control range is very average for a caster who wants a large battlegroup.
• He has lots of competition in faction, he is admittedly stronger than Morghoul1 but Xekaar has better fury management and Makeda3 has more utility his niche is speed.
• He has all the subtlety of a thrown brick.

Tricks & Tips

• Most versions of Pitch use STR for collatoral damage. Xerxis, though, uses the Mount's POW for collatoral damage.
• Pitch and Sprint. The auto-KD nature of his mount means you can often negate free strikes before Sprinting away. Remember that Sprint requires you to kill a model.
• Xerxis can avoid Turn 2 fury-flow problems with a large battlegroup by, during deployment, putting your Paingiver Beast Handlers in B2B with some of your beasts. Then they can Prod them letting them charge for free rather than forcing them to run. You lose a little bit of movement, but avoid them frenzying next turn.
• Try to use the impact attacks wherever possible. But be careful not to knock down your own models.

• Trample:
  • Even if you don't have anyone in range of your trample, you can Trample anywhere without causing it to end your activation, so you can still cast spells.
  • It can be more useful to use Trample that way than actually killing stuff. Both because it's hard to find a 'Landing Zone' for a huge-based Trampler, and also because you can leave yourself in a bad position for being assassinated.
  • If you can kill something, a late-game Trample followed by a Sprint can lead to an unexpected domination of a zone or flag. Use these movement shenanigans to your advantage.

• Despite the Repairable and Battle Engine rules, he's still a living model, and thus affected by rules and abilities which interact with such models (Life drinker, Bleed, Butcher 3's feat, Poison, Annoyance, Burning Ash, etc.).

List Building Advice

Strategy

Xerxis moves fast, hits hard, and hits especially hard on the alpha strike with his entire battle group and himself sprinting away.

Xerxis brings great things to warbeasts. Like a speed bonus to all of them. Unfortunately his downsides include a low FURY (and hence a low control area). He tends to bring a big battlegroup supported by Paingiver Beast Handlers but Ignite and his feat both support infantry.

For infantry Xerxis tends to like units like Venator Reivers who have enough threat range that the battlegroup can run past them.

Theme thoughts

Xerxis is a battlegroup caster making this seem the obvious choice - but with only FURY 5 he struggles to run a big battlegroup and runs far too hot on feat turn. If you play him in this theme you'll base it around a Siege Animantarax, and/or Zaadesh1, and/or a garguantuan. Add in a couple of units of Beast Handlers and the list starts looking somewhat scary.

• Siege Animantarax - This thing can be an independant of Xerxis' CTRL area piece that harrasses/bullies opponents. It also combos well with beast handlers and keeps up.
• Chiron or a Road Hog gets a whole lot scarier on his feat turn. (With Chiron Basilisk Spam can be a thing).
• Paingiver Bloodrunners provide a nice fast screen and deal with enemy skirmishers.
• Nihilators Ignite is a great little boost to their output and you can tactically use his feat to miss each other when they berserk.

This is another way of getting a battlegroup-heavy force, but also a very nasty feat turn thanks to the ranged support available in this theme.

• Siege Animantarax, mentioned above, can also be taken in this theme.

There's nothing inherently wrong with putting Xerxis in Masters of War, but they don't have that much right with them either. The optional take down from the theme benefits is often makes his feat a bit punchier - but that’s about it.

• Praetorian Ferox get a special mention though - They are fast enough to keep up with Xerxis' beasts, and Ignite is great on them especially on feat turn.

Template:Header Another theme that Xerxis does little for.

• Despoiler adds extra arm cracking to Xerxis’ kit and lets him upkeep a spell for free.

• Orin Midwinter - if you can't hide Xerxis, you can at least cancel incoming spells.
• The Wastelander - same as above, if you can’t hide Xerxis you can take a ranged attack for him.

Battlegroup

So because no warbeast really minds extra speed, accuracy or damage Xerxis can run anything well. But the best models are those that mitigate his low fury and control range.

• Archidon - Long Leash is really really useful for Xerxis. And the Archidon has an absurd threat range with Xerxis2
• Tiberion is Xerxis' pet warbeast that he can take in any theme. Overtake is an awesome bond and Xerxis really likes Shield Guards.
• Aradus Soldier - Anything that increases their speed is just gravy!
• Basilisk Krea - Extra DEF and ARM against shooting is really useful on his huge base.
• Desert Hydra - Innate path finder, reach, large base and volume of attacks make him a good candidate, the animus seals the deal as his cmd is the same range as his control area.
• Titan Gladiator - Animus alone makes it extremely helpful. Plus, more high pow attacks and throws for the feat turn make him a solid option.
• Terrorizer - as above the animus alone is worth the price of admission but 4 attacks, parry and side step let’s it get very deep.
• Bronzeback Titan - If you are taking Tiberion an Agonizer, the Terrorizer and a Titan Sentry you need a way to manage that fury.
• Cyclops Savage - Not as great as some of the other options in terms of raw damage, still worth it if you have points left over due to their decent fury efficiency, epecially on feat turn. (You should brush up on how Future Sight interacts with a discard die, if you do run it.)
• Cyclops Brute - a cheap shield guard with 2 initials and a good damage profile.

First Seven Purchases

A few veteran players have put their heads together and tried to figure out the seven best things to buy for this specific caster. This is not designed to add up to a nice round points limit, nor be balanced vs other "First Seven" lists you find on this website. It is simply going to give you some of the essentials this caster needs most of the time.

1. Warbeast: Tiberion
2. Warbeast: Bronzeback Titan
3. Warbeast: The Terrorizer
4. Solo: Aptimus Marketh
5. Solo: Zaadesh1
6. Unit: Paingiver Beast Handlers
7. Unit: Paingiver Beast Handlers

Other

Trivia

• Released in Hordes: Exigence (2014)
• Xerxis suffered wounds in combat with 2 Circle warlocks: Kaya and Grayle. This story can be read in Hordes: Domination (2011). The fact that he felt a need to keep performing his duties despite his injuries lead him to mount his cerops Surus in order to keep fighting.
• It is a common misconception that Xerxis is permanently crippled after a PP staffer described his mount as a 'wheelchair'. Xerxis is actually able to walk and maneuver in combat, but does so with much effort and pain. The mounts main purpose is for Xerxis to ignore any recommended bedrest in order to stay involved in the invasion.
• Xerxis' mount, Surus, is named after Hannibal's personal war elephant.
• Xerxis was promoted to 'Lord Tyrant' in the backstory, despite the lack of title in his official name.

Video Battle Reports

• 2019.10 Arcane Assist, vs Xerxis2
• 2018.09 Arcane Assist, vs Lylyth1
• 2018.08 Arcane Assist, vs Grim1
• Template:VBR