Blackfrost Shard

Sevryn, Rhylyss, and Vysarr are three blighted Nyss brothers, deadly warrior-sorcerers known as the Blackfrost Shard. Together, they bring to bear the ruthless martial prowess of the Nyss and the cold, merciless magic of ice and snow upon the enemies of their Everblight.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Everyone
  • Template:Cold Immunity
  • Template:Pathfinder
  • Template:Battle Wizard
  • Template:Combat Caster
  • Template:Magic Ability

• Sevryn only
  • Template:Officer

Weapons

Nyss Claymore
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		1				4				9
Template:Weapon Master Template:Magical Damage

Theme Forces

• Template:Children of the Dragon
• Template:Oracles of Annihilation. In this theme, enemy models that end their activation within 2" of this model suffer continuous corrosion.

Thoughts on Blackfrost Shard

Blackfrost Shard in a nutshell

The Blackfrost Shard ("BFS", "the Shard") is an incredibly useful and versatile unit, mustering 3 things:

• warlock-independent damage buff in the form of Kiss of Lyliss
• warlock-independent accuracy buff in the form of Ice Cage
• warlock-independent upkeep removal in the form of Unbinding

Whereas other factions have access to damage buffs in form of support units and non-self animi, Legion in general has few accuracy fixers, and even fewer damage fixing tools. They should be on the top of your buy list if you intend on playing the themes they're allowed in.

They can be considered as three solos priced at 3 pts each which is a very good deal for their toolbox. They have access to a decent variety of useful spells and have solid magic accuracy to back them up, and if need be they are weapon masters in melee with the added bonus of Battle Wizard. To further sweeten the deal they have Combat Caster so there will hardly ever be situations where they cannot do something useful.

The Shard is best used in the midline, keeping Cloak of Mist up, waiting for the right moment to tag an important enemy model with Kiss, or a combination of Ice Cages and Ice Bolts to improve the accuracy of the rest of your army. Usually, Sevryn will cast Ice Cage first, to help Rhylyss hit with the Kiss. Depending of the situation, Vysarr could also cast an Ice Cage (for assassination run), but the better option is generally Cloak of Mist, to keep them save. Used effectively, they will be able to cast several round and are great game ender to chase remains of unit or solo.

Sevryn with his Unbinding may come handy both if you plan on going all-in on an assassination and want to remove pesky upkeeps like Defenders Ward or Arcane Shield, or if the enemy has potent upkeep spells that might hider your unit (Parasite, Crippling Grasp, Rebuke, etc).

Combat Caster gives yet another layer of flexibility, allowing you to cast your spells first then dash to safety, or weaken a suitable target first to charge in, deliver their attack then trigger Battle Wizard to cause even more mayhem.

All that comes with a price though; their defense outside stealth is nothing to write home about and they are too valuable to be expended recklessly, while being important enough that the enemy will try to put them into early grave. Finding balance between offence and support duties while keeping them safe is a challenging - but nonetheless, rewarding - task.

Combos & Synergies

The Shard is self sufficient, and can slot into any list if you find your damage lacking or want some extra utility. If your warlock doesn't have a damage buff/ARM debuff, they're worth their weight in gold. If they do, you just get to double down on a really hard target, or spread the love in multiple places at once.

• Nephilim Bloodseer - Telemetry can help landing Kiss on important targets, just remember to keep the target in its 6" CMD bubble.
• Bethayne1 really loves them both for her feat and for Blood Thorn to support Battle Wizard.
• Any caster that already packs a DEF debuff helps make their job easier. Using your warlock to reduce the DEF of your Kiss target frees up the other BFS memebers to either stay stealthy, or use their Ice Bolts on other targets who you might want to hit, but don't need the extra punch to take out. The following models can help out in this respect:
  • Vayl1 - Frost Field, Incite. Her feat can help them get safely back after doing their thing.
  • Vayl2 - Icy Grip. Can use Deadly Storm to make LOS blocking clouds as well, and can target even the BFS, as they are innmue to the damage.
  • Lylyth1 - Feat. Parasite + Kiss makes most models dead.
  • Lylyth3 - Feat (stationary on hit).
  • Saeryn1 - Breath Stealer.
  • Saeryn2 - Marked for Death.
  • A Seraph shot.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Blast damage is very scary for them, especially if boostable, and stealth attracts blind fire. Keep Rhylyss safe at all costs.
• The Kiss of Lyliss is the only warlock-independent damage buff in the Legion, from which all of your unit can profit - they are pretty high on the target priority list. Even more so if your opponent has potent offensive upkeeps as Unbinding is a #1 weapon into these.

Tricks & Tips

• Combat Caster and Battle Wizard stack quite nicely. An ideal activation would go:
  • Issue Press Forward order
  • Use Combat Caster to cast spells
  • Make a charge move (which can be 0" if they're already stuck in melee).
  • Make their charge attack. Being weapon masters, even an average dice roll should kill an ARM 22 single-wound model on the charge.
  • Use Battle Wizard to cast another spell.

• Unlike ranged attacks, spells can be cast even if you're already in melee. Also, the spell can target anyone you have LOS to - it doesn't have to be someone within the same melee.
• As with every fragile unit, spread out as much as your tiny CMD range allows. It is your best defence against electro leaps, AOEs, etc.
• Combat Caster plus Unbinding does not work vs effects that stop you issuing/receiving an order (ie Rebuke). You can't cast Unbinding until you charge, and you can't get the order to charge until you get the order.

Other

Trivia

• Released in Forces of Hordes: Legion of Everblight (2010)
• How to tell them apart:
  • Sevryn, the leader: Sword guy in a commanding posture.
  • Rhylyss, the kisser: Sneaky guy with a face-plate that leaves only his mouth free.
  • Vyssar, the stealthy one: Sneaky sword guy in cloak and hood.