Leviathan

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The Leviathan is an immense metal atrocity of frightening mobility. The watertight furnaces of this horror make it a favorite among blackship captains, who take full advantage of its amphibious nature by deploying it at sea - or, rather, shoving it overboard and allowing it to make its way silently across the seabed on its spidery claws.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Template:Amphibious
• Template:Construct
• Template:Pathfinder
• Template:Steady

Weapons

• Crushing Claw - 1" reach, POW 5, P+S 17 melee weapon
  • Template:Open Fist
• Spiker - 13" range, ROF d3, POW 13 ranged attack
  • Template:Volume Fire

Theme Forces

• Cryx
  • Template:Black Industries. Leviathan gains Carapace in this theme.
  • Template:Dark Host
  • Template:Scourge of the Broken Coast. Leviathan gains Gang Fighter in this theme.
  • Template:The Ghost Fleet

• Other Factions
  • Infernal players can use this model in the Template:Hearts of Darkness theme, but only if Mortenebra is leading the army. It gains Accumulator [Soulless] in this theme.
  • Mercenary and Convergence players can use it by either:
    • putting it under the control of Asphyxious4 in various themes,
    • putting it under the control of Mortenebra in Template:Strange Bedfellows.

Thoughts on the Leviathan

The Leviathan in a nutshell

The Leviathan is best deployed as a gun platform, preferably focusing its fire on enemy heavies. Not only will you get the Volume Fire bonus, but larger models tend to have lower DEF making it easier to hit without boosting.

The Crushing Claw lacks any abilities that would make you want to rush into melee. Don't discount the idea of using the Claw entirely though, it is a very high P+S melee weapon and buying a string of attacks with it can still wreck a target.

Its unreliable ROF combined with its high points cost makes the Leviathan unpopular with many players - some feel that the Sepulcher holds more value as a volume fire shooting platform. However, when taken in larger quantities with the right support/debuff caster (particularly Denegrha 1), overall variability in range output drops due to the law of large numbers](successful tournament lists suggest that four is the sweet spot). Further, bringing the Leviathan in the Black Industries theme gives them the Carapace rule which allows them to turn the tide in a prolonged fire fight.

Combos & Synergies

• Mortenebra1 can use her Interface rule to provide focus to this jack. This is immensely useful to it, as this negates the need to allocate to it, where the focus points can be wasted on a low roll for ROF. With interface you can always use exactly as much focus to boost its shots as you need. Rerolls from the feat, Overrun and Tune Up are all very useful to this jack.
• Asphyxious4 - Malign Alignment and Interface work the exact same way, so the Leviathan can spend focus on Gaspy. Dark Shroud on its pincer is icing on the cake.
• Aiakos1 and Leviathan is a nice combo, as he can fuel it with plenty of focus without drawing on your warcaster's reserves. He can also speed it up with Escort allowing it to get in a better position sooner. All that being said, Kharybdis is a better jack overall, even though it's slightly more expensive. Escort is also waster if it spends most of its time aiming.
• The Iron Lich Overseer is oft-maligned due to them being a 'jack marshal and not a good one at that, but they have the benefit of requiring no focus to run their 'jack; after all you cant run into trouble fuelling your jacks efficiently if you don't fuel it in the first place! The "Take Aim!" command means that the Leviathan can't move, but anything within its RNG is going to be suffering d3 RAT 7, POW 17 shots. It can also give the shooty 'jack Stealth. Having two War Witches give it focus with Empower results in some decent debuff stacking with no caster input.
• Skarre2 or Rahera bring the Black Spot spell, which can potentially net you 6 shots a turn!
• Skarre3 - Guided Fire boosts the attack rolls of ALL of its shots, do it doesn't matter how many you roll in terms of allocation.
• Casters with damage buffs that aren't Dark Shroud, work well well for ranged attacks. Examples include, Parasite, Curse of Shadows and Mortality:
  • Deneghra3 - Mortality and Scourge can set up prime targets to unload the spike cannon into. Her Vengeful Spirits rule means she can fully load a Leviathan for just one soul, and thus suffers less from the d3 ROF problem than other casters.
  • Sturgis2, Agathia, Asphyxious1, Asphyxious2 all bring Parasite.
    • Deneghra1 deserves special mention because she has both Parasite and Crippling Grasp, so she can spread around ARM debuffs on multiple models/units and has a feat that debuffs ARM yet again.
  • Goreshade2, The Witch Coven of Garlghast & the Egregore, Deneghra0, and Deneghra2 bring Curse of Shadows.
  • Scaverous has Feat of Worms as an ARM debuff and Telekinesis as a pseudo-RAT-and-range buff

Drawbacks & Downsides

• The unreliable ROF means you never know how much focus to allocate it. If you fill it up with 3 focus then it rolls a "1" for number of shots, you've wasted at least one focus. On the other hand, if you give it no extra focus and it rolls a "3" then you'll have several unboosted shots that won't achieve much. For best and most consistent results, operate a Leviathan with 2 focus on it.
• You'll probably be able to hit enemy heavies relatively easy, but the Leviathan's "meh" RAT means you'll want to boost to-hit against most infantry or light warjacks.
• Only one initial attack, whether it is ranged or melee.

Tricks & Tips

• If the Leviathan gets stuck in melee, consider using your Open Fist to simply throw the enemy away. Won't work against models with a high STR, though.
• If you intend to use the gun on the Leviathan, activate it early in your turn so you have a better idea what kind of impact the shooting will have. Then adjust plans as necessary.

Other

Trivia

• Originally released in Warmachine: Escalation (2004)
• Sculptor (original metal model): John Winter
• The Leviathan used to be one of the most awkward models to assemble in the game. With the plastic resculpt, however, the legs are designed to fit directly into the torso which allows for much easier construction.
  • Of note, one of the legs comes with a small sculpted rock, to more easily fasten it to the base. Please do not confuse it for flash or a poor mold.