Woldwarden

The Woldwarden's solid frame is inscribed with an intricate lattice of glowing runes. Towering over most adversaries, their mighty stone fists are strengthened by nature's wrath to deliver an onslaught of powerful blows. A Woldwarden's greatest power is its mystical harmony with its controlling druid, allowing the woldwarden to act as a conduit for the druid's arcane might, fueled by the power of earth.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Template:Pathfinder
• Template:Construct
• Template:Magic Ability
• Template:Mend

Weapons

Rune Fist (x2)
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		1				4				16
Template:Magical Damage Template:Open Fist Template:Chain Attack Smite

Animus & Spells

Geomancy is a magic ability spell, Wild Growth is an animus spell.

{{Category: Template:GeomancyTemplate:Wild Growth }}[[Category: Template:GeomancyTemplate:Wild Growth ]]

Theme Forces

• Template:Secret Masters
• Template:The Bones of Orboros. Woldwarden heals 1 extra hitpoint during the Maintenance Phase in this theme.
• Template:Si
• Template:The Wild Hunt.

Thoughts on Woldwarden

Woldwarden in a nutshell

At 13 points it's one of the cheapest heavies the Circle has access to—and moves as fast as the Satyrs and hits harder. It's a bit pillow fisted in melee, and thus requires you to run Stoneshapers to increase its melee damage, at which point its power rivals those of most other dedicated melee work horses, and as Stoneshapers are in most Circle lists anyway, the opportunity cost for this is basically zero. Furthermore, the Warden can cast the spells on its warlock's card for itself, meaning it is basically a better version of an arc-node. Overall the package is very well worth it's points and Woldwardens are predisposed to do lots of heavy lifting in most circle lists.

Combos & Synergies

Like all Wolds it really appreciates being played in the The Bones of Orboros theme, although this is far from essential. What is essential is to play it with a caster that gives it a decent ranged (or rather magic) attack as this is entirely dependent on the caster's spell list. Warlocks with good spells for the Woldwarden to geomance are:

• Baldur the Stonecleaver - Boosted Earth Spikes is an excellent assassination spell, ignoring cover and concealment and with a critical knockdown to launch open season on the caster.
• Baldur the Stonesoul - Roots of the Earth when approaching the enemy is a rare example of a buff the Warden can cast and Crevasse is a great spell with removal from play.
• Bradigus Thorle the Runecarver - Rift is a great spell a lot of the time, and the Woldwarden really benefits from Synergy.
• Grayle the Farstrider - Gallows.
• Kromac the Ravenous - Rift is, as ever, great. It's not what you expect to see with Kromac but works well.
• Krueger the Stormwrath - Geomancing Forked Lightning gives even more crispy fried infantry. This is what you bring out when there's infantry spam on the agenda.
• Krueger the Stormlord - Gallows, Telekinesis (especially in the opening turns), and Lightning Storm are all good spells.
• Mohsar the Desertwalker - Crevasse is a good spell
• Morvahna the Autumnblade has both Mortality and Eruption of Life. And Mortality is great for getting that chain attack off and heavy target breaker, while Eruption is a good infantry-cleaner.
• Tanith the Feral Song- multiple Rifts can halt armies without much pathfinder and being an AOE means his low magic skill doesn't matter. Also Tanith has Prowl, and that makes her casting Wild Growth an excellent choice.
• Wurmwood, Tree of Fate & Cassius the Oathkeeper - Stranglehold may be a 2 cost offensive spell, but it's an excellent 2 cost offensive spell and you always want to boost damage so using the Warden will spare you even more Fury on Wurmwood. Also Wurmwood has Prowl, and so having the ability to create a forest round himself every turn is extremely valuable.

Of those, Baldur (either), Bradigus, and Krueger (either) are the clear winners, with Baldur and Bradigus both giving buffs for all constructs.

There are a number of non-caster models that support or work well with Woldwardens.

• Blackclad Stoneshaper - that two points of STR buff in melee is awesome!
• Shifting Stones - Fury is harder to manage on stone warbeasts than normal because they don't frenzy. Serenity works.
• Blackclad Wayfarer (or occasionally Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress) - Hunter's Mark is an excellent threat range extender that provides free charges. And free charges make for some interesting angles in melee.
• Sentry Stone & Mannikins - the Woldwarden gets to start to create a forest wall. As does the stone. More forest = much more protection. And there is no reason at all to not take the Sentry Stone other than that you're playing in a theme that doesn't allow it (which is all except Bones of Orboros).
• Chuck Dogwood - Veteran Leader and Puppet Master to increase its accuracy, even on the spell casting!

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Megalith does everything the Woldwarden does, but better. Of course he is much more expensive than the Warden, so pros and cons.
• Very low DEF, mediocre ARM. Fortunately it comes with a lot of damage boxes and automatic self-heal.
• Low POW for a heavy and can't accept the Primal buff. It won't kill heavies in melee without external buffs, but can certainly bully them.
• Geomancy doesn't allow the casting of upkeep spells or spells with a range of control or self. This limits your options a bit.
• Geomancy tends to have lower range and damage than a ranged attack from a ranged heavy.

Tricks,& Tips

• Geomancy:
  • Woldwarden can boost attack and damage of spells it casts via Geomancy.
  • Geomancy doesn't require you to "use up" your Combat Action, just to be forced. So you can use it as well as your melee attacks, and/or after Trampling.
• A normal slam is quite limited in the direction (straight at the enemy). With a Smite, though, you can get interesting angles. Try to go to one side of your charge target so there is something "interesting" behind your charge target that you can slam them into.
• Smiting someone makes it a lot easier to geomance an offensive spell onto them.

Other

Trivia

Released way back in Primal Mk1 (2006)