Ice Witches

Sorcery has long been a valued talent among the Nyss, now doubly so among the Legion of Everblight. Before the coming of the dragon, the Ice Witches were the brutal sorceresses of isolated and feral shards of the deep mountains who now use the blight to augment their power. They are among the Nyss most eager for battle, reveling in unleashing their powers.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Template:Cold Immunity
• Template:Pathfinder
• Template:Magic Ability
• Template:Snow-Wreathed

Weapons

Cold Steel Blade
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		0.5				4				8
Template:Magical Damage Template:Critical Freeze

Spells

{{Category: Template:FrostbiteTemplate:Ice Cage AttackTemplate:Puppet Master }}[[Category: Template:FrostbiteTemplate:Ice Cage AttackTemplate:Puppet Master ]]

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 Ice Witches

Ice Witches in a nutshell

Three Puppet Masters, or the ability to spam Ice Cages, for five points is a lot of To-Hit fixing utility in Legion, something we already have a lot of. That said, three casts of Puppet Master alone may be enough to allow these ladies to squeeze their way into many lists that rely on assassination or critical effects (which are all too prevalent in Legion).

Ice Witches can slot nicely into an Oracles of Annihilation List that wants to bring as many beasts as possible, but still sort of wants a unit for scoring circular zones in the 2019 steamroller scenarios.

Combos & Synergies

Any assassin warlock (most notably either version of Rhyas) really likes Puppet Master to improve their chances. Remember that Puppet Master is not a cure-all medicine. Dice are still dice, and you can roll poorly on the reroll - it simply improves your probabilities and percentages over a large sample and helps mitigate outlier rolls over time.

• With Rhyas, it's all about the crit fishing. She usually doesn't struggle to hit, but to really seal the deal landing a decapitation on the charge can make the difference between succeeding or failing at the job.
• Vayl2 may appreciate Puppet Master when setting up for her assassination attempt. Against flighty casters (the likes of Caine2 and other crazy DEF stackers), landing that first Icy Grip is all but required, and the Witches can help even out the dice curve.
• Throne of Everblight and the Blackfrost Shard can piggyback off of the other casts of Ice Cage - the spell doesn't require the Ice Cage effect to all come from the same model. It's a niche use, but one nontheless
• Zuriel often relies heavily on landing a choice Combo Strike charge attack. The Witches can save him a Fury by rerolling his attack roll (freeing up one for an extra attack or another boosted damage roll), or save a poor damage roll from going sour.
• Like Zuriel, the Angelius will seriously appreciate the extra insurance of evening the success key Armor Pierce.
• Notable other models with critical hits: Nephilim Bolt Thrower, Azrael, Typhon, Naga Nightlurker, Seraph, Blight Wasps, Nephilim Bloodseer, Angelius, Archangel. Some of the criticals are better than others, but keep these in mind if you find any of these models in the same list as Ice Witches. Puppet Master improves your odds, even moreso if you are able to buff your MAT or lower enemy DEF, as higher base accuracy allows for more combinations of dice rolls that are valid crits.

Of course, Puppet Master can foil your opponent's plans as well since you can choose to have them reroll successful hits, or a really spiky hot dice roll on damage. It's a little harder to use as the Witches will be high priority targets and this requires exposure, plus they are somewhat limited by only having a Magic Ability of 6. Either way, never forget the option as if the reroll goes your way this tactic could save a key model in your army, or force the enemy to commit resources they would prefer to use elsewhere. Even just forcing them to spend an extra focus or fury they originally did not plan to use can make a difference.

• Anything with a single attack they really want to land can be a good offensive use of Puppet Master. The Archidon in Skorne, or the opponent's Angelius in the shadow matchup spring to mind, but the possibilities are endless.
• Attempted Power Attacks.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Support bloat: Legion has a lot of MAT fixing in faction, and there are a lot of other models that bring offensive capabilities too (such as the Shard's Kiss of Lylyss). The Witches do bring sprays - but don't expect to use this except in the late game or emergencies.

Tricks and Tips

• Don't forget, you can always have one member of the Witches Puppet Master another if you want to land a very key Ice Cage, or are using Puppet Master offensively on a very important enemy model. It's not always ideal, but when you have three casts flying around, it's not necessary a bad idea.

Other

Trivia

• Released in the Xmas CID (2017.07)
• They have a longer fluff blurb on PP's "extras" page.