Beast Mistress

These rare Nyss sorceresses are blessed with a direct channel to the font of the dragon Everblight’s power and are able to commune with dragonspawn on a level almost on par with that of the dragon’s warlocks. In battle they command the spawn with an innate understanding of each beast’s capabilities and methods of slaughter; their blighted bond allows them to anticipate attacks and take advantage of injured or distracted enemies.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Template:Draconic Consort
• Field Marshal [ [[:Category:{{{ability}}}|{{{ability}}}]] ]

[[Category:{{{ability}}}]] (Template:Aggressive-alt)

• Template:Flank
• Template:Pathfinder

Weapons

Nyss Claymore
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		1				4				9

Spells

{{Category: Template:EnergizerTemplate:Blood Rain }}[[Category: Template:EnergizerTemplate:Blood Rain ]]

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 Beast Mistress

Beast Mistress in a nutshell

The Beast Mistress is the faction's cheapest lesser warlock with focus on lesser and light warbeasts. With a 2-points price tag, a decent Field Marshal rule and a good threat extender she is a great choice if you wish to outsource a light warbeast or a few lessers. While the Blight Archon can command sizeable battlegroups and quality warbeasts like Zuriel, an Angelius, or even an Archangel, the Beast Mistress is your go-to solution if you want a cheap-as-possible beast commander outside your warlock's battlegroup, who can still act rather well on its own.

The Beast Mistress can bring either lesser or light beasts in her battlegroup, opening up quite a few possible combinations. Whether you want to put her beasts' combat abilities to use or just have your army's support beasts outsourced under her care, the Mistress got you covered. If you intend to do the former, Aggressive Field Marshal along with Energizer offers excellent threat ranges for your beasts.

She is cheap for a reason though: even with Flank on lessers, combat should be a last ditch effort, and Blood Rain is basically a dead spell on her card due to her low FURY4 and the low range on the spell. If you really need to corrode something, you must blow your entire Fury stack to boost an attack roll, and left with none to boost damage. She is also quite fragile with her ARM13 - you should always camp at least 1 Fury to save her from getting sniped.

Combos & Synergies

You may either want a single light warbeast under her care, or several lessers in her battlegroup. Whatever which way you go, try to avoid inflating her battlegroup too much since it will draw a big bullseye on her head and it takes little effort to put her down for good. If you go with lessers, you can spend them basically like ammo, not expecting them to return anyway. Feel free to threaten objectives or exposed flanks, or just goad your enemy into sending their Ambushing units into her.

• Blighted Nyss Shepherd - Beast Master goes a long way towards mitigating the Mistress' 8" radius control area.

Lesser Warbeasts

• Stinger - A free Assault spray with Energizer can threaten up to 17" - not something to build a strategy on, but if it takes off a scoring solo from a flag, why not give it a go?
• Shredder - Basically fire&forget missiles, who can still deal a surprising amount of damage with Flank.
• Blight Wasp - Free run and charges by default, plus the Mistress gets access to the Kiling Spree animus to be cast on other lights.
• Mekanoshredder - The best of the lights, its animus is just as important as the beast itself.
• Harrier - SPD 7 and Flight means the can go far and contest.
• Spawning Vessel - Waste not, want not - use the corpses of your Shredders (or their victims) to create new ones.

Light Warbeasts

• Nephilim Bolt Thrower - With the Mistress' toolkit it can operate as an autonomous gun platform that can threaten things up to 16" while still retaining the ability to aim (Energizer does not take away the aiming bonus).
• Raek - A capable combat light who can also operate quite far away from the Mistress, and is super grateful for the 2" extra threat range from Energizer.
• Nephilim Soldier - This Fury-capped warbeast can really shine under the Mistress' guidance with free charges up to 13"+ away - especially if your warlock or the rest of your army can provide further STR/damage roll boost. It can also easily trigger flank for the Shredder with its 2" reach.
• Naga Nightlurker - A ranged warbeast and a powerful animus in one package. With Energizer you can end up up to 12" away from the target you tried to Shadow Bind.
• Teraph - If you want to play it safe with your Beast Mistress, you may also choose this ranged warbeast over the Nephilim Bolt Thrower, as she can take care of the entire Fury output of a single Teraph while Energizer helps with positioning into a better dig-in spot. Her aggressive Field Marshal may also have merit if you need to commit the Teraph into melee.

Warlocks and Lesser warlocks

• Lylyth1 loves outsourced battlegroups, while with Lylyth2's Soothing Song you may consider running one extra light or lesser under the Mistress's care without overburdening her.
• Kryssa has the same mobility tool as the Mistress, and her feat is a general force multiplier. She may even cast Ignite onto a combat light and once it's been killed, cycle it to a more valuable target. If you happen to keep the Mistress close to her, the Tough aura can also save her hide.
• Vayl1 - Incite is also an excellent threat amplifier, while her feat allows you to retreat safely after a more bold turn.
• Thagrosh0 - Enemies without 2" melee reach will have hard time dealing with a light warbeast in a Blight Burst AoE. He may also boost her DEF via Fog of War against ranged threats.
• Blight Archon - It helps the Mistress with its Veteran Leader aura if you need to commit into battle.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Fragile.
• Like with every lesser warlock, beasts under her care will miss out on your warlock's battlegroup buffs.
• The more beast you put under her care, the more likely the enemy will try to snipe her.
• Her Flank only gets triggered on lesser warbeasts, and she's not available in Ravens of War where lessers have additional utility.
• Melee beasts may often leave her tiny control area.
• In Oracles of Annihilation Thagrosh0 may substitute her with a vast set of special rules for only +3 points.

Tricks & Tips

• Flanking is not tied to Battlegroup lessers. If your warcaster happens to have one nearby, it can be just as good.
• If you really need to commit her into melee, go for flanking. With charge she can make three MAT7 strike with P+S9 + 4D6 for damage.

Other

Trivia

Released in Hordes: Gargantuans (2013)