Rattler

"Fingers of knives and skin of chain, the Rattler comes to reap your pain."

Named for the jangling of the iron links that wrap it as it trembles with feral hatred for the Defiers’ corrupt foes, the gaunt rattler is the most spiteful nightmare serving the Wicked Harvest. Catching sight of the enemy throws a rattler into a mad rage, and in this frenzy it hurtles into crowds of the unfortunate to lay waste with its bladed claws.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Template:Warbeast
• Template:Berserk
• Template:Overtake

Weapons

Claw (x2) - 1" reach, P+S 13 melee weapons

• Template:Open Fist

Animus

{{Category: Template:Still as Death }}[[Category: Template:Still as Death ]]

Theme Forces

• Template:Bump in the Night
• Template:Dark Menagerie

Thoughts on the Rattler

Rattler in a nutshell

It's lean, its mean, and its an infantry killing machine. The Rattler is something of a legendary Grymkin beast, capable of killing entire units in a single activation vs unprepared opponents, and it might not even have to buy a single attack to do it. Despite this laser focus on murdering infantry the Rattler is actually not bad at fighting for a light either, buffable P+S 13 with two initials is not bad.

Why Should I Bring Rattlers in my Army?

Bring Rattlers when you want a battlegroup answer to infantry. They are sheer efficiency and value machines. It is very possible, and not unlikely at all that one or two rattlers do more work against infantry spam lists than the rest of your list combined. Just in general, you'll bring them more in Dark Menagerie because when running a smaller list with more beasts you need a way to generate a volume of attacks to deal with a lot of infantry. Between them and Skin & Moans you'll be impressed at what a low model count can do to a larger army.

Competitive Viability
As of June 2018 Rattlers are considered very viable. They're typically run at least one of them in a list pair, and seeing double rattler in Dark Menagerie is not uncommon. They just bring so much efficiency that the moment you're in a small based infantry situation they print money.

The fact that the meta is moving towards more medium base resiliant models and introducing cavalry like The Chosen of Everblight, and overhauling Exemplar Vengers means that Rattlers may see rougher times for a while however. Watch this space.

Combos & Synergies

• Accuracy buffs that make the Rattler's Berserk+Overtake combo more reliable are a huge thing for this guy. He struggles vs def 13 infantry because rolling multiple 7s in a row is harsh.
  • Old Witch 3 allows it to re-roll missed attack rolls when she chooses that particular arcane machinery or feats
  • The Dreamer gives the Rattler Manifest Destiny. a big bonus of this is Manifest Destiny just buffs everyone so the Rattler benefits even when other models are the focus
  • Glimmer Imps apply -2 DEF to key targets
• It loves some form of Pathfinder or SPD buff to assist delivery
  • The Dreamer can give Mirage to one, Mirage isn't the best movement buff and it really really telegraphs your intention, but its still effective
  • Old Witch 3 has boundless charge which is both a movement buff and pathfinder. She probably runs rattlers the best in the entire faction.
  • The King of Nothing gives them ghostly with Host of Shadows which makes sure they wont be slowed by terrain, and dont have to fear free strikes.
• Cage Ragers animus Wraithbane can be a really strong buff for the Rattler because infantry love their defense and armor buffs.
• The Accursed arcana can smooth over their problems with Tough Models
  • The Death Knell can do this on a smaller, more local scale as well

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Without buffs it won't hurt heavies very well, and it'll be fairly unimpressive against tanky medium base infantry or cavalry. That's not to say it can't have its power buffed to space to kill those models, but they'll be much more spread out than normal infantry too.
• Lacks pathfinder and the threat range is fairly pedestrian
• MAT 6 is fairly unimpressive when infantry have better defensive stats than normal.
• If your opponent never clumps up enough you'll struggle to gain a lot of value
• They really really don't like Tough. It ruins the berserk+overtake chain

Tricks & Tips

• Overtake happens before Berserk. During this movement you're not immune to free strikes.
• Killing with Throw triggers Berserk, but does not trigger Overtake, so be careful with throwing enemies around.
• If you want to cut its Berserk short, The Dreamer can pop out a phantasm with Hat Trick. as the model is removed from play, neither Berserk or Overtake triggers
  • Of course, this can be considered a downside if you want your phantasms out but dont want to interrupt the master at work
• Rattlers are excellent counter punch. It's honestly really hard to stay spread out with infantry, especially once they go into melee. All sorts of situations can occur and you can end up with little model bridges that carry you around and even into their back line.
  • Once infantry charge your resiliant heavies, in go the rattlers to clean up!
• Rattlers can do really well being shielded, sitting under arcane vortex, shield guard etc protection and behind the heavies in match ups where they are key, to ensure that they are a serious, terrifying threat of retribution against any infantry alpha strike.
• Don't be afraid to send them in on heavies with damage buffs. A Rattler under Manifest Destiny with Fortune's Path up for example is essentially hitting at POW 15.5

Other

Trivia

File:MINICRATERATTLER.jpg

Demon Rattler; Minicrate Exclusive.

• Released with the Faction launch (2017.06)
• Template:LES