Throne of Everblight

Towering above Everblight’s legions are nightmarish creatures of writhing tentacles made possible only through the dragon’s will and power. From their positions atop these monstrosities, sorceresses rain down blighted magic upon the enemies of their master, freezing flesh with chilling frost or bursting bodies with explosions of razor-sharp spines. Those foolish enough to engage a Throne of Everblight in hand-to-hand combat are grabbed up by the blighted horror’s tentacles and pulled into its vast draconic maw to be devoured whole and screaming.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Template:Flight
• Template:Circular Vision
• Template:Snacking
• Template:Magic Ability
• Template:Necrophage

Weapons

• Tentacle (x4) - 2" reach, P+S 16 melee weapons.
  • Template:Chain Weapon
  • Template:Chain Strike

Spells

{{Category: Template:FrostbiteTemplate:Ice Cage AttackTemplate:Spine Burst }}[[Category: Template:FrostbiteTemplate:Ice Cage AttackTemplate:Spine Burst ]]

Theme Forces

• Template:Children of the Dragon
• Template:Oracles of Annihilation

Thoughts on Throne of Everblight

Throne of Everblight in a nutshell

The Throne of Everblight is a gun platform/brawler battle engine. It is the toughest, non-gargantuan model in the Legion's arsenal, both in terms of HP and ARM. However, that should be regarded in the faction's context: anything that can one-round a Khador warjack may make short work on the Throne too. It is especially true against gunlines since its huge base makes screening all but impossible - except for 5"+ tall obstructions. With a 4" melee range during its activation it has an impressive unaided threat range and 4 initial melee attacks. Combined with a decent MAT, the Necrophage special rule, and numerous Magic Attacks, which can hurt several infantry at once, the Throne is a superb infantry remover.

Thanks to its huge base and chain strike it may pose threat on an enormous area during its activation. That may enable you to craft attack vectors that may allow you to reach models far from each other not only with your melee attacks, but especially with your sprays and Spine Bursts when you triggered Necrophage.

If your list is tailored toward fighting heavier targets, the Throne can be a great choice for dealing with groups of light/medium armored warrior models or light warbeasts, and can be expected to do something useful in every turn. However, it is ill-suited for brawling with heavy targets one-on-one; something to consider when crafting your list.

Combos & Synergies

The Throne has slightly above-average offensive stats, but unlike many battle engines it has no native ability to boost attack or damage rolls. Casters and models who can help it out will greatly increase its performance.

Children of the Dragon

• Craelix - Weaken not only increases the Throne's accuracy against living models, it also boosts its survival against them, making it effectively ARM22.

Oracles of Annihilation

• Bog Trog Mist Speaker - Despite being all mouth and tentacles, the Sorceress on the top lacks Eyeless Sight and she is the one casting, so you cannot cast Ice Cage or Eruption of Spines at Stealth-protected targets beyond 5". You also cannot charge beyond smoke screens, something that can really hurt the Throne with its 4" melee range. The Mist Speaker's Guidance helps you out in such cases. Also, if you'd be left with your spells to deal with a pesky Incorporeal model, the magical weapons will enable you to strike out with the tentacles, plus your melee kills trigger Necrophage as well.
• Thagrosh0 - If you can deliver a Blight Burst patch into the presumed landing spot of a heavy that may try to engage the Throne next turn, it will have a hard time of removing it with unboosted initial attacks (and maybe one boost for the charge attack damage roll).

Both Themes

• Blackfrost Shard - Though the main attraction is Rhylyss' Kiss, Vyssar and Sevryn can occasionally cast Ice Cage onto a critical target, improving the Throne's accuracy and damage output with one stroke. Sevryn's Unbinding may also help you get rid of upkeep debuffs.
• Ice Witches - Yet another source for Ice Cage and Frostbite sprays, their Puppet Master can help you with a crucial attack/damage roll.
• Hex Hunters + Bayal - Shadow Bind makes your attacks effectively MAT10, plus you're most likely free of retaliation, if the target cannot shake it off.
• Nephilim Bloodseer - Telemetry has natural synergy with the (possibly numerous) magic attack rolls, but usually you'll delegate this duty to the Hermit who can act as a quasi-spark-node for your Spine Burst shots as well.
• Yssylla - Shatter Storm lets the Throne to destroy multiple single would infantries with each of it's four initial melee attacks. Fortunately Necrophage also triggers on RFP, so you can still get free casts out of detonating enemies. Puppet Master is also useful on its numerous initials.

Other

• Mekanoshredder - Full Steam increases your threat against constructs to a whooping 14", and it can also help you out if your opponent has tools to make the Throne lose its Flight ability, and you need to navigate through difficult terrain. Note that it won't help in case of windswept terrain features.
• Naga Nightlurker - Its animus also gives the Throne magical damage for their melee attacks, plus you don't have to worry about pesky upkeep spells like Arcane Shield, Arcane Ward, etc.
• Blight Archon - An ARM22 Throne is no joke, plus Impending Doom can pull things close to your spray attack(s).

Warlocks

• Mekanolyth - Though her list may have a penchant toward ranged assets, Mortality is a universal accuracy and damage fixer, and counters the occasional Tough bubble that would diminish your damage output into infantry. Deflection may not be your primary asset on a DEF10 target but it is one of the rare defensive spells from which the Throne can benefit, occasionally inducing misses on RAT4-5 assailants.
• Bethayne1 - Her Disintegration - combined with the Shard's buff - allows you to send the Throne against a Centurion and emerge victorious. Her feat also fully boosts each and every magic attack the Throne might make (note that this does not extend to the d3 spine burst damage, since they are not considered to be caused by an attack).
• Bethayne2 - Dissolve and Transmutation goes hand in hand for damage buff, and the Throne can tank damage during your feat like few else.
• Kryssa - Ignite is a solid damage buff to push the Throne into a creditable threat vs a heavy, and a major threat on her Feat turn.
• Lylyth1 - Her feat is technically an attack roll boost, but it is Parasite that makes the Throne truly frightening. She's also low on FURY, so a Throne or two can help her to have combat pieces at her disposal, without producing excess Fury.
• Fyanna2 offers Fury to provide a nice boost to damage output. Though the rest of her toolkit doesn't mean much to the Throne (Iron Flesh can target warrior models only), the feat pushes up its DEF to an OK level. If you even manage to get an onbstacle or obstruction between the Throne and its melee assailant, it will have a very nice DEF15 and Dodge, making removal through melee pretty difficult.
• Absylonia1 - Not your first pick for a battlegroup-centric warlock, but Refuge works wonders on the Throne when it comes to piece trading.
• Vayl2 and Vayl1 - Considering the size of the Throne it can be an excellent channeller, if being bit by the Oraculi, and a great LOS blocker for a fragile warlock. Vayl2's Boundless Charge is also a pleasant threat-extender, while Vayl1's Incite and Frost Field is an universal accuracy and damage fixer. The Throne is also a great recipient for her feat, as battle engines are not restricted to be moved outside of their activation.
• Thagrosh1 - He values the Throne's LOS blocking capability, thanks to his shootable medium base. Death Shroud is a great all-purpose survivability booster for a model with already high ARM. In a pinch, it's not an awful target for Draconic Blessing either.
• Saeryn1 - Her ARM buff feat works well with the Throne's already high ARM. Additionally, she can keep the Throne safe with clever positioning of Blight Bringer, and as a scenario/attrition focused caster, the two play well off of each other.
• Rhyas1's - She can make the Throne Stealthy with Occultation, but it is her feat that demands special mention. As the Throne can be placed, there's nothing to stop you from teleporting your tentacle monster behind enemy lines (effectively netting it ~9-14" further threat range). The additional feat attack also gives it 5 initials, resulting in the same possible amount of destructive magic attacks.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• No innate ability to boost attack or damage rolls, thus not a real threat in a heavy-vs-heavy brawl on its own.
• Slow-ish for a Legion model and Slipstream won't work on it.
• Though it is the Legion's most resilient non-gargantuan model, its huge base makes concerted shooting a real threat.
• Needs infantry or other light targets to operate at peak efficiency.
• Lowest DEF in the faction after the Blightbringer, plus most of your infantry bear paper-thin armor in the themes you can bring it. Watch out for things like electro leaps, Ashes to Ashes, etc, as the Throne can be a good starting point for those effects.
• It's not Blighted, so benefits neither from the Archon's Veteran leader, nor from the Oracle theme's corrosion bonus.
• Not gameplay related, but good luck transporting the model...

Tricks & Tips

• Unlike several battle engine weapons, neither your tentacles, nor your magic abilities are tied to your left or right firing arc. Though you still cannot pick targets behind the Throne, you can threaten models in your whole front arc.
• Typical Chain Strike caveat to be applied here, as your melee range is 4" only during your activation.
  • You'll hand out free strikes at 2"
  • When shooting a target, which was engaged during the Throne's activation, and is more than 2" away from the Throne, it will not get the Target in Melee modifier.
• It is one of the rare living battle engines, so affected by rules and abilities which interact with such models (Life drinker, Bleed, Butcher 3's feat, Poison, Annoyance, Burning Ash, etc.) Also, despite Soulless being a common thrope in the Legion, this one has soul.
  • Talking about common thropes; the Throne has Flight (despite its appearence), but no Eyeless Sight. Since it cannot get it from the Steamroller Objective anymore, watch out for effects that cause Blind.
• The Throne can screen your caster, and all of the flying warbeasts can use the Throne as a shield and charge right over it, since Flight allows you to ignore intervening models when determining LOS for charging and movement purposes. Beasts with guns may want to find a wall or forest though.

Other

Trivia

• Released in Hordes: Domination, 2011 November
• The Throne is carried around by a Hellmouth (or at least a very similar looking creature)