Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight

Template:Legbox This model is playable only in an Unlimited format.

Lylyth has arisen from recent conflicts as the leading edge of Everblight's armies and has spread the dragon's shadow across the lands of western Immoren. She and her handpicked followers cut down any who oppose the Legion with unerring precision. Empowered to range far from the center of Everblight's power, Lylyth drives her advanced strike elements with peerless grace and lethality.

Basic Info

This model is a Warlock.

Warlock Rules A warlock is an Independent Model. a Leader model. a Battlegroup Controller controls warbeasts. Warlocks use Fury Manipulation Uses ARC to determine how many fury points it gains each turn. Begins the game with a number of fury points equal to its ARC. Cannot exceed its ARC stat in fury points as a result of leeching. Can spend fury points only during its activation (unless a special rule states otherwise) for the following: Buy additional attacks Boost attack rolls Boost damage rolls Shake some effects Can leach fury points from warbeasts in its battlegroup in its control range. Spirit Bond allows the warlock to gain a fury for each of its dead battlegroup warbeasts. Reaving allows the warlock to pull fury points from a warbeast in its battlegroup when it dies.

Feat - Decimation

While in Lylyth's Template:CTRL range, friendly Faction models gain Gunfighter and can make one additional ranged attack during their activations. Decimation lasts for one turn.

Abilities

• Template:Eyeless Sight
• Template:Pathfinder
• Template:Stealth
• Template:Range Amplifier
• Template:Soothing Song
• Template:Swift Hunter

Weapons

Whisper
File:Gun icon.jpg		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW
		12			1			Template:-			12
Template:Magical Damage Template:Reload 1 Template:Snap Fire
Bow Blade
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		0.5				3				7

Spells

{{Category: Template:MirageTemplate:Pin CushionTemplate:Vanish }}[[Category: Template:MirageTemplate:Pin CushionTemplate:Vanish ]]

Theme Forces

• Template:Children of the Dragon. She gains Tactician [Blighted] in this theme.
• Template:Oracles of Annihilation. In this theme she can start the game with friendly upkeeps in play. Also, enemy models that end their activation within 2" of her suffer continuous corrosion.
• Template:Primal Terrors
• Template:Ravens of War

Thoughts on Lylyth2

Lylyth2 in a Nutshell

Just like her prime incarnation, Lylyth2 is a range-focused warlock and now her entire toolkit revolves around shooting the enemy off the board. She gained +1 RAT and permanent Stealth instead of Prowl, but retained the same frail frame and a pretty low FURY 5 stat.

While Lylyth1's feat and Parasite enables both brawlers and shooters to benefit from her shenanigans, Lylyth2's tight focus on ranged warfare extends to her army, and sadly it is hampered by the (un)reliablility of her main tool - see Spell thoughts for details. Her personal output is also hamstrung by having to pay for a second shot on her bow - though Snap Fire could theoretically offer you almost double the shots Lylyth1 has, it all depends on your enemy providing suitable targets that can be reliably killed by your POW12 shots.

FURY5 means a rather tiny CTRL area with all its associated drawbacks. Along with her fragile frame it severely limits what you can achieve during your turn. You want at least 1 Fury to be camped every turn if even a single boostable AoE is in scatter distance, while needing the Far Strike animus to maintain a relatively safe distance if you want to get Lylyth's hands dirty. On the bright side, Soothing Song offers excellent Fury management, not only for Lylyth's battlegroup but also for every warbeast in her CTRL area, prompting you to outsource warbeasts under the lesser warlocks' care.

Lylyth can end up in several bad matchups via her ranged toolkit, which - along with the low FURY stat and fragility - puts her to the bottom of the power ranking among the Legion warlocks.

Feat thoughts

This is an aura feat, meaning that in order to benefit from it, your models must constantly be in Lylyth's CTRL bubble, not just at the beginning of their activation. That limitation is usually not an issue if you just want to lob shots from afar, but can put Lylyth closer to the battlelines than you'd like if you plan to use the Gunfighter element (roughly 13,5" for your medium-based Warspears). Your models also must abide the restrictions of Gunfighter. For the sake of brevity we won't detail it since you can find it in the rules clarifications.

Spell thoughts

• Mirage: This is a great threat extender from turn 2 since you will probably not spend your Fury elsewhere in turn 1. However, upkeeping it instantly takes away 20% of your Fury stock. A Succubus is strongly advised. You should either place it on a unit or on a shooty warbeast, since it is all too easy to run a melee warbeast out of Lylyth's CTRL area (save perhaps for the Raek or those under the Blight Archon's control).
• Pin Cushion: Your signature spell, which is sadly hampered by the fact that you'll need to cast it with your meagre FURY5 (Lylyth2 lost Witch Mark on her bow). That means a high risk - uncertain reward situation where even a clumsy DEF 11 target standing in cover may force boosts and threaten to sacrifice your Fury for no tangible gain. Setting it up for a reliable casting needs some form of Telemetry by the Bloodseer or the Hermit, who offer zero synergy with the rest of your toolkit, and/or an arc node for back strike bonus (read: Spell Martyr), and that is something no enemy worth their salt will grant you easily. Also, if you cast through your one-use arc node, you won't get the bonus distance from Range amplifier. Since it is an upkeep there are plenty of ways where it can be dispelled and spell hate in general (Arcane Vortex, etc.) can completely kneecap your casting attempts. On the bright side, if you manage to land it, the above mentioned Succubus can help you to upkeep it for free.
• Vanish: A life insurance spell if things during your activation went sideways, or a threat extender if the opportunity arises. With the Far Strike animus you can send in her arrows up to 26" away (28 with Slipstream) and also help you to maintain range after casting Pin Cushion and be 18" away from your target. In corner cases it also helps you to evade jamming models engaging you, and may allow you to place yourself into the back arc of enemy models during your feat turn.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Fragile and FURY-capped
• Vulnerable against anti-shooting as well as anti-spellcasting tricks

Tips and Tricks

• Soothing Song is anytime during the activation phase, not Lylyth's own activation. You can (and probably should) trigger it after you finished Lylyth's activation.
• You can boost against Pin Cushioned targets - it is an additional die instead of boosted rolls.

List Building Advice

Strategy

Lylyth2 is a ranged alpha strike caster - you either get ahead of the attrition early or you will be stuck with an uphill battle in the following turns, especially if you cannot land Pin Cushion on key targets. The feat also has a really strong assassination potential that may force your opponent's casters to keep a respectable distance from her army. With certain builds you can lean towards scenario and board control - the former mostly with your Nephilim Bolt Throwers, and the latter with your models that leave behind Scather templates.

Theme thoughts

Template:Header This theme's Venn diagram about the models who can solve Lylyth's inherited weakness and said models' availability is a perfect circle. Also, you can start with Mirage in play, reaping its benefit straight from Turn1.

• Blight Archon - Your Nr1. Lesser Warlock who can handle any ranged beast just fine from the Archangel to the Bolt Thrower. It comes with its Veteran Leader aura and a long-range spray to boot. Though rather gimmicky, between Assault, Gunfighter and Feat you can have up to 3 sprays on your target and anyone unlucky to stand behind (though it won't trigger sprint and you cannot buy additional melee attacks either).
• Thagrosh0 - Between Soothing Song and FURY5 he can easily handle a Ravagore or even 2 Bolt Throwers under his care, all with attack re-rolls due to Ethrubal's Guidance (and upkeeping Fog of War that may also happen to help Lylyth's survival). He also provides access to Typhon who is a melee AND ranged powerhouse on its own.
• Beast Mistress - She with a Bolt Thrower forms a very economical package, and the Bolt Thrower is almost never outside of her tiny Template:Control area that would otherwise be problematic for a melee warbeast. With Energizer the Bolt Thrower's aiming threat is a respectable 16" (21 with walk) and running the beast hot on Fury can be solved with Soothing song.
• Virtue Host and Virtue Champion - Excellent deterrents against single wound infantries and can absolutely assert battlefield control under feat turn.
• Blackfrost Shard - Kiss of Lylyss is always a nice complement to the Pin Cushion's damage boost, but 1-2 or even 3 Ice Cage can substantially increase the chance to successfully land Pin Cushion on a key target.
• Ice Witches - Another source for Ice Cage and Puppet Master. For a single Puppet Master you may also consider Yssylla, who has great synergy with ranged elements via her Detonator spell as well.

Template:Header Here you can have most of the stuff available in Oracles, and various ranged elements who love extra attacks, the 2 character Nephilim beasts and Typhon among them.

• Blighted Nyss Archers - You can have anything between 3 POW 21 CMAs and 33 individual POW 10 attacks under feat, being able to scale your damage output to whatever threat you need. With Pin Cushion and the UA's CMA re-roll few enemies can escape your bowshots. Be advised though that a full unit will heavily tax your deathclock. Combined with the Sorceress' Blight Storm you can cause a lot of chip damage even to the hardest targets. They can also provide volume fire to whittle down tough-enhanced armies who would otherwise hamper your feat's effectiveness.
• Craelix - His arrow has strong utility by default, the more he can shoot with it the better.
• Azrael, Typhon and Zuriel all boast significant ranged threat either via Dual Attack, Multiple Head or Reload.
• Blighted Nyss Raptors - A versatile and fast combined arms unit who can both pose ranged threat and put their weapon master swords to good use once the lines clashed.

Template:Header This theme has natural synergy with ranged warfare due to the theme bonus. Craelix and Raptors are also present here.

• Strider Rangers - On top of their ranged presence they might be an avenue for a combined arms list, enabling warbeasts to charge for free.
• Strider Deathstalkers can be an absolute nightmare for single wound infantries under feat, easily erasing a minimum unit on their own.
• Grotesque Banshees - Their short range might be an issue when you want to keep them near your feat zone, but their sprays ignore Shield Guards, the most common anti-shooting tech and can be downright scary against a Pin Cushioned target. They are also natural Gunfighters, so it's everything but easy to jam them. If you put Mirage on them, their threat is also a respectable 15", on par with Lylyth's own Pin Cushion casting range.

• Blightbringer - 2 support aura patches under the feat is nice, even though this theme usually lacks battlegroup-centered ranged presence. The -2 DEF aura may also help Lylyth's Pin Cushion casting since she ignores the concealment bonus anyway.
• Chosen of Everblight / Blighted Ogrun Warmongers - A pretty out-of-the-way use for a ranged caster, but Mirage is an excellent threat extender on both units, pumping the range to 14" on the Chosen and to a whooping 15" on the Warmongers if you can trigger both Vengeance and Gorag's minifeat. Gorag's Paralyzing Gaze is also an excellent DEF fixer for successful Pin Cushion casting.
• Blighted Ogrun Warspears - Aka the Ogrun MLRS. A max unit under feat can unleash either 12 normal shots, or 18 shots while charging by delivering an assault shot, choosing to do a ranged initial due to Gunfighter and then an extra ranged attack. This has the downside of needing to put Lylyth within ~13"5" of their target, and that you must deliver all of your shots within melee range, since Gunfighter allows you to make attacks only against targets you are in melee with (you would need Dual Attack to make both melee and ranged attacks). Of course, those attacks are subject to all the available bonuses, (Prey, Veteran Leader, Blightbringer aura, Pin Cushion), yielding a surprisingly accurate and powerful combination.
• Ammok the Truthbearer - Though you must give up on the Succubus, Ammok gives yet another 2" on your spell range, pumping it up to 17". Sadly, he offers no help in upkeeping it.

Template:Header As mentioned above, Lylyth enjoys outsourced battlegroups, so almost every ranged warbeast can fit into her army list, provided you can bring the right suppor tools.

• Succubus - The question is, whether you want to pay 2 points for a free upkeep and an on-demand cloud on you fragile, Fury-strapped warlock. Your answer will most likely be yes.
• Nephilim Bolt Thrower - A must-have choice if you want her to do any work beside Pin Cushion casting. The Bolt Thrower can also operate nicely in outsourced battlegroups, while Lylyth keeps the Fury in check with Soothing Song.
• Raek - an odd choice for a ranged warlock, but her tiny control area leaves few choices for other melee warbeasts. Like with Lylyth1, the flying headbutt trick for 6 points never gets old, and boosts your Pin Cushion casting success to said target to 97%.
• Ravagore or Teraph - Your premier ranged warbeast and your less impressive, but cheaper alternative for ranged warfare. Lylyth likes both of their animi if you don't need Far Strike form the Bolt Thrower.
  • If your sole aim is to have access to the Counterblast animus, consider the Stinger for 3 points.
• Archangel - The shootiest warbeast in the faction naturally enjoys the company of a range-support warlock. Consider bringing a Forsaken or some Shepherds along to keep its Fury output in check.

Minion choices

• Eilish or Hermit - Either via Puppet Master or Telemetry, they can help your Pin Cushion casting.
• Farrow Valkyries or The Wastelander - Shield guards go a long way of keeping Lylyth alive.

Other

Trivia

Released in Hordes: Metamorphosis (2009)

Video Battle Reports

• 2018.01 Brutal Damage, vs Elara2 (35 points)
• Template:VBR