View source for Lord Exhumator Scaverous

{{Cryxbox|{{Cryx}} [[Warcaster]]}} [[Category: Model]]
{{4P|Dark Host}}

''Scaverous has served the Nightmare Empire for many centuries. His mortal life as a historian and arcanist who dabbled in the black arts was but a harbinger of the work that has consumed him since. Bestowed the gift of undeath for his obsession with and skillful pursuit of knowledge, Scaverous was immediately put to work, first in the Archive of Skell and later abroad to gather intelligence. He spent decades specializing in those exacting necromantic arts required to unbind the tongues of the dead, to manifest their shades from echos left on their bones and force from them answers to his questions.''

=Basic Info=
{{Infobox-Model
| name  = Scaverous1
| image = Scaverous1.gif
| base  = Medium
| spd   = 6
| str   = 8
| mat   = 6
| rat   4 irrelevant
| def   = 14
| arm   = 17
| cmd   7 irrelevant
| focus = 7
| hp    = 18
| wjp   = +27
}}

{{Warcaster}}
 
===Feat: Black Gate===
# While in Scaverous' {{CTRL}} range, friendly Faction models gain boosted magic attack rolls.
# When Scaverous casts a spell, reduce the COST of the spell by 1.
# When an enemy model casts a spell while within Scaverous' {{CTRL}} range, increase the COST by 1.
: Black Gate lasts for one round.
{{Tipbox|
The first effect doesn't affect weapons with Damage Type: Magical. See [[LPG - Magic vs Magical]] for why.

The third effect:
* doesn't affect models that cast a spell via a [[Magic Ability]], since those have no cost. 
* doesn't affect models that "cast a spell  that is COST 3 or less for free" because the feat doesn't change the base cost.
* does, however, affect warbeast's animus.}}

===Abilities=== 
* {{Undead}}
* {{Knowledge of the Damned|{{control}}|soul}}
* {{Cull Soul|replenishes its focus|focus}}

===Weapons===
* '''Avernus''' - 2" reach, POW 6, P+S 14 melee weapon. 
** {{Magical Damage}}
** {{Thresher}}

===Spells=== 
{{Spellbox|
{{Death Ward}}
{{Excarnate}}
{{Feast of Worms}}
{{Icy Grip}}
{{Soul Harvester}}
{{Telekinesis}}
}}

===Theme Forces===
* {{Black Industries}}
* {{Dark Host}}
* {{The Ghost Fleet}}
* {{Scourge of the Broken Coast}}


=Thoughts on Scaverous=
===Scaverous in a nutshell=== 
Scaverous is a spellslinger caster with a strong soul collection mechanic. He enables his army to do ''their'' job better. He can debuff ARM through Feast of Worms, has control elements from Icy Grip, but his main shtick is Telekinesis and Soul Harvester. On feat turn he can put out at least 7 telekinesis, all of them with boosted attack rolls. If you got souls on the turn before, you can spam even more.

His model does look like a melee powerhouse, his DEF/ARM is okay, and Thresher on his 2" weapon is good - but despite all this, he doesn't want to get in melee. He'll be spending nearly all his focus stack every turn, leaving him reasonably vulnerable to assassination.

===Feat thoughts===
In an ideal world you'd use his feat the turn after you've gorged on souls, so that you have plenty of focus to sling spells around. But this would mean that you wouldn't use your feat until Turn 3 (given that you're unlikely to gorge on souls on turn 1) and often Turn 3 can be too late. 

Instead, Scav often prefers to use his feat on Turn 2, just as the lines engage, to spam Telekinesis, to land a much-needed debuff, or Excarnate some Grunts into play. This can help him get the alpha strike and start the attrition war in his favour.

Last thought: it can be tempting to fill your army up with spellcasters to maximise on the feat, but just be careful you don't overload on fragile mages and leave yourself too few points to spend on "boots on the ground" combat troops.

===Spell thoughts===
* '''Death Ward''' is best on a high-value warjack who doesn't want Scav's Soul Harvester upkeep, to keep that warjack alive longer. 
** [[Erebus]] is a good choice, as are colossals. 
** Any jack with ARM 18 or higher, as stacking an ARM buff on an already-high ARM is just good sense.
** Alternatively, you could put it on a unit of high-ARM infantry. [[Bane Riders]] and [[Bane Knights]] with Death Ward are ARM20 (when B2B for Knights) and ARM22 against shooting and magic with a [[Wraith Engine]]. Combine with [[Darragh Wrathe]] for even more ARM skew.
* '''Feast of Worms''' is an expensive spell, but well worth it. 
** It can be used for pure offense (vs clumped-up troops like Durst or Trollbloods), for extra soul-collecting, and sort-of as a board control element. If some high-ARM enemy are out of range, you can land the AOE in front of them and say "come towards me, and you'll be dust next turn."
** It can circumvent some forms of anti-magic tech that prevent targeting; you can run a [[Machine Wraith]] or TK an enemy model over, target them, and clip the warded model you want to debuff.  
** It has slight skornergy because if you're throwing it at easily-killed models to gobble their souls, then the ARM debuff is likely overkill; and vice versa. 
* You're generally putting '''Icy Grip''' out for the DEF debuff and let your army hit more reliably. Other applications include:
** Put it on a slow warcaster/solo/unit early in the game, to keep it out of the fight. Telekinesis it backwards to add insult to injury.
** Put it on a unit of spellcasters (like [[Hex Hunters]]) that rely on using a Special Attack to cast a spell. Without that, they can't act in combat at all.
* '''Soul Harvester''' is your main source of soul-income. It is best going on a unit that can '''a)''' quickly close the gap with the enemy, and '''b)''' can reliably kill infantry, preferably in droves. 
** [[Soul Hunters]] or [[Bane Riders]] are a good choice, thanks to their SPD and number of attacks.
** I've heard people suggest [[Bloodgorgers]] with [[Gerlak]], because Berserk + Overtake lets them "Pacman" through enemy units, but I think they're a bit slow to be ideal. On the other hand, you only need 1 or 2 to make it to the enemy to start a Pacman, and Telekinesis on 1 or 2 guys isn't hard. 
** The [[Harrower]] can be decent thanks to its 2" Thresher ability.
{{TK Tips}}
** Feast of Worms is a great debuff to move enemys into.

===Drawbacks & Downsides===
* As a spellslinger with 4 upkeeps, Scaverous doesn't play well with [[:Category:Anti-Spell|anti-spell]] stuff, particularly [[:Category:Anti-Upkeep|anti-upkeep]] stuff.
* Despite being modeled as a badass robot dude with a huge scythe, he almost never wants to get into combat.
* With only MAT 6 it's best you forget about Thresher. Although with Icy Grip he can push himself to effective MAT 8 vs warrior models, which are his preferred Thresher targets.

===Tricks & Tips===
* Don't forget that Feast of Worms' ARM debuff applies before the damage roll. So you'll be doing: 
** Effective POW 14 vs the model directly hit
** Effective POW 8 blast damage vs enemy models hit
** Actual POW 6 blast damage vs friendly models hit
* Using [[Star-Crossed]] from [[Wrong Eye]] with rerolls from Scaverous can be a very potent combination.
* <u>The "Spanish Inquistion" tactic</u>
:: Warning: This is a high-cost, low-reward venture. You want to avoid using it, if possible.
:: But sometimes you're forced to be the 2nd player, your opponent advances very aggressively, just outside of your threat range. Furthermore, they're poised to feat on their turn 2 to lock you out of the scenario and/or prevent you making any meaningful attacks.
:: Net result: you've got nothing to attack on your turn 1, and very little to attack on turn 2. You can try and play defensively for 2 turns and hope enough of your army survives to give you a meaningful turn 3, or you can try something nobody expects.
:# Feat at the start of your turn 1 and only cast Telekinesis, and cast it as many times as possible - Deathjack, WSC, Doctor Stygius, Misery Cage, and/or Blood Priestess can all help here.
:# Use this to launch your army straight into those aggressively-positioned models, that weren't expecting all your threat ranges to grow by 2" (or 4" if you TK the enemy too) on turn 1.
:# Hope like hell that this surprise turn 1 attack upsets your opponent's plans sufficiently for you to stay in the game.

=List Building Advice=
===Strategy===
Scaverous’s toolkit can do almost anything. He can be built in so many different ways, all of them are solid, and he has a flexible toolbox that allows him to adapt to the flow of the game. Have an idea of what you need/want Scaverous to actually play into and build with that in mind. Or to put it another way, as a caster Scaverous can pair well with anyone but any given Scaverous list cannot pair well with anyone. You often want to decide on your non-Scaverous list, learn what that list is weak into, and design Scaverous to cover that weakness.


His flexibility can leave new players floundering with "Analysis Paralysis" where they spend so long thinking about what he ''could'' do with his focus this turn, they lose sight of the overall game and let the win slip through their fingers. To alleviate this, I suggest you choose one of the following strategies, build your list to capitalise on it, then play that list to death before picking another strategy.

# <u>Telekinesis-enabled assassination</u>
#* Figure out if any of your models can charge the enemy caster (ignore everything between them). Don't forget to add 3" to your threat range. Now that you've checked that, start spamming TK to move anything blocking your charge lane out of the way, then charge and go to town.
#* With this strategy, you'll probably want to have 2-3 fast, hard-hitting assassins in your army list. You spread them out the turn before the assassination, to saturate your opponent with threat vectors and maximise the chance they leave at least one with a "gap" to charge through (or at least a "gap" you can create with a minimum number of TK).
#* Ideally, you won't have to cast TK too often and you'll have enough focus left to cast either an Icy Grip or Feast of Worms on the enemy caster.
# <u>Telekinesis-enabled attrition</u>
#* In this strategy, you're looking to get the first strike, preferably against your opponent's most high-value targets. They'll try to keep them away from your army, and you'll just TK yourself and/or them closer, so that you get the charge. 
#* You should also keep an eye out for important support models (like [[Choir]] and the [[Krielstone]]) that are trying to hide. Then use TK to bring them forward where you can either shoot them or charge them.
#* This strategy doesn't work very well with and/or against troop-spam lists - there's simply too many guys to cast TK on in any one turn.
#* With this strategy, you'll probably want one or two heavy-hitters that you can TK forwards and then charge the enemy. You also might want a bit of shooting in your list, to kill any screening units that are trying to block you from getting at the high-value targets.
# <u>Plain attrition</u>
#* Here, you're playing with and/or against a troop-spam army, where there are no obvious high-value targets worth TK-ing. Instead what you're doing is throwing out Icy Grip and/or Feast of Worms to debuff the enemy to the point where your army can kill them, preferably faster than they kill you.

{{Header|Built to Pair}}

===Theme thoughts===
As an army enabler, Scaverous does quite well in any theme. However, he does like something that can hit hard (like [[Dark Host]]) because his only ARM debuff is an expensive Cost 4 spell.

{{Header|[[Black Industries]]}}

This theme gives him access to most of the stuff he has the best synergies with, so he will spend most of his time here.

* [[Deathjack]] 
** DJ can cast Telekenisis, and you can never have enough TKs in your game!
** One neat trick is to have DJ perform a slam move but TK his slam target before making the slam attack. This lets you line up some interesting slam angles. Note that the target still needs to be in slam range (0.5") after the TK is cast.
** Note that although DJ ''can'' cast Excarnate, he can't spawn a trooper from it (because DJ doesn't have a control range).
** Death Ward is DJ's favourite buff, stacking with Carapace to make DJ ARM 24 against shooting and making it hard to cripple DJ's systems.
* [[Mechanithralls]] are good targets for Scav's Excarnate spell. They can screen or ambush depending on your opponent's setup. The brute thralls hit reasonably hard and are shield guards to boot. Thralls have a low MAT but Icy Grip can help with that.
* [[Carrion Thralls]] - A very good flanking unit that make for excellent Soul Harvesters.
* [[Necrosurgeon]] - With Excarnate and this girl you can lay on thick the reinforcements.
* Thanks to TK, Scavy can actually make [[Seether]]s work somewhat, because he can TK them into position should the enemy find a way for them to not have targets to charge in their front arc.
** As such an Overseether module can work quite well with him (that is a Seether marshalled by an [[Iron Lich Overseer]] for Dark Shround and Crush!).
** The Seether also gains Carapace in this theme.
* [[Warwitch Siren]]s can alleviate his focus burden by Empowering his jacks, and on feat turn their magical sprays become very powerful.
* [[Cephalyx Overlords]] have magical sprays that are great on feat turn.
* For warcaster attachment you can choose between [[Doctor Stygius]] or the [[Withershadow Combine]] (you can ignore the [[Skarlock Thrall]] and [[Corbeau]]).
** Either option can cast spells from Scav's card. So that's an extra TK each turn. They both benefit from Scav's feat. As with DJ they ''can'' cast Excarnate, but can't spawn a trooper.
** Dr Stygius is cheaper.
** WSC are more expensive, but give Scav a free upkeep, a re-roll, and on feat turn they get three boosted attacks instead of 1. Lastly they're a unit which can be good for scenarios.
* [[Aiakos1]] - The main synergy here is Aiakos can stack Escort with a TK from Scav for some truly ludicrous threat ranges. 
** A nice addition is Aiakos's pet warjack [[Kharybdis]]. TK plus Escort lets Kharybdis threaten 16" (or 18" if you TK the enemy closer).
* [[Asphyxious4]] is called out specifically in this theme. See the "Mercenary" header as to why you should take him.
* [[Black Ogrun Iron Mongers]] - The leader has a handy to-hit buff for Warjacks, but most importantly they repair very well, contest and hit surprisingly hard for support models, especially against enemy Constructs.

{{Header|[[Scourge of the Broken Coast]]}}

A few of Scav's favourite pieces are available here, plus some stuff you can't get in Black Industries. This is arguably his best theme.
* Aiakos1, Warwitch Sirens, Iron Mongers, Overlords, and Stygius are all available here too. Note the Cephalyx do not take your merc solots here, as they are living "Cryx" models by the virtue of the Partisan rule.
** Warwitch Sirens are notable here because they are SPD 7 warrior models with Parry and 1" melee, meaning they have a very easy time setting up Gang Fighter for your jacks. 
* Double [[Death Archon]]s are a strong reason to run Scavy here, as he is the strongest caster in Cryx for them. Telekinesis, Feat of Worms and Knowledge of the Damned dials them up to eleven.
** [[Steelhead Ironhead]] - Specifically mentioned here because you only take this guy to crane around Death Archons (and Princess Delores, see below). Those extra 2" on the Archon threat range should not be underestimated, so this is definitetly 4 pts and a merc slot well spend.
* [[Misery Cage]] can feed him extra focus each turn.
* For Warcaster Attachments you can choose between Doctor Stygius or the [[Satyxis Blood Priestess]].
** The Blood Priestess spell-casting ability isn't as reliable as the Doctor's (she has to kill a living model first) but she provides a free upkeep and protection from ranged attacks. Generally he likes the Spell Slave more though.
* [[Barathrum]] - The hands down best character heavy in Cryx and a contender for best jack in the faction. With Gang Fighter it will leave a dent in everything it touches, Knowledge of the Damned Death Ward and Dig in make it surprisingly tanky for a Cryxian jack and Telekinesis and Drag Below make it deceptively mobile for a heavy.
* [[Scharde Dirge Seers]] - Guidance is an amazing buff for any spellslinger caster and their Hex Bolts benefit from his feat. They are a terrific requisition card for him in this theme. Also using Seduction to dislodge some [[Initiates of the Wall]], or generally coaxing models into his Feat of Worms AOE can be great value if it comes up.

{{Header|[[Dark Host]]}}

* The Overlords and Stygius can also go in this theme, but they will use up your Mercenary slot(s) in these two themes.
* Dark Host lets you take double [[Void Archons]] but you'll have to take a merc unit to fuel them with souls. Usually this is Croes for the Telekinesis synergy, which also gives you an excellent shooting component for an other wise melee heavy theme. The main downside to this is that with Croe's you cannot also take Asphyxious, which is a massive strike against it. In Scourge you can take double Death Archons, Gaspy, and still take some Cryx or merc troops to fuel the Archons with corpses.
* A [[Wraith Engine]] is a good model in its own right and Unhallowed and Death Ward make a unit of Banes really not worth shooting at.
* [[Darragh Wrathe]] - Same as the Wraith Engine but Mortal feat works better against melee than raged. He also makes Bane's faster.
* [[Bane Riders]] are multi wound models and thus take very well to all these ARM buffs. The single wound, small based, Banes will become very resistant to small arms fire, but will probably still fold in melee.
* Excarnate lets you add to play small based undead grunts, so it works for both [[Bane Warriors]] and [[Bane Knights]]. [[Tartarus]] also adds to the Bane recursion mechanic.

{{Header|Mercenaries}}
Scaverous is a very merc friendly caster because he has an ARM debuff, meaning he buffs damage by dropping enemy stats, thus bypassing the "friendly faction" clause most direct damage buffs have. Knowledge of the Damned and Telekinesis are also faction independent abilites.
*[[Asphyxious4]]:
** He brings an ARM debuff that Scav appreciates, which also aleviates the need to bring merc solos to do the same thing.
** He gets boosted magic attacks from Scav's feat turn (but doesn't get cheaper spells).
** Asphyxious4 an Iron Lich unit and thus does not take the merc slot in Black Industries, but will use up your Mercenary unit slot in any other theme.
* [[Cephalyx Overlords]] already mentioned above are actually Mercenary models, so can go in any theme. They are Cryx [[Partisan]]s so sometimes use up your Merc slot, sometimes don't.
* [[Croe's Cutthroats]] have a strong synergy with Scaverous. They get an extra damage die if they shoot someone in the back arc, and Scav can use his TK spell to spin stuff around for them. Combine with the feast of Worms ARM debuff and they shoot extremely well.
* [[Wrong Eye]] has the [[Star-Crossed]] spell which stacks nicely with Knowledge of the Damned. Assuming you can get souls, that is. And assuming you have 17 points to spare.
* [[Ragman]], [[Hermit]], and [[Void Archon]]s are different ways of getting damage buffs into your list. ARM is something Scav can struggle vs. They love being TK'd into position.
* [[Princess Delores Graciela]] is a ranged powerhouse solo second to none and thus loves TK and Feast of Worms to make her guns sing even more. She notably does not take your merc slot ever, due to her Master Mind rule, but does require you to run Asphyxious4 with a [[Toro]] (or [[Corbeau]], which is a hard ask). This means you can use your merc solot on a solo, like the [[Steelhead Ironhead]], who can crane her and your Archons around.

===Battlegroup===
[[File: Erebus 2017.jpg|thumb|[[Erebus]] is his pet warjack that he can take in any theme.]]

Scaverous likes at least two arc nodes, and normally rounds out his battlegroup with one heavy. He doesn't like to put lots of warjacks in his battlegroup, because he'd rather keep his focus to cast spells than allocate it to warjacks. As he is usually played in themes with character jacks, he takes one of those as they are usually better than Cryx's non-character heavy stable (see the respective theme sections.)
* Two [[Deathripper]]s plus his pet heavy warjack [[Erebus]] is only 1 point more than his WJP. Or swap Erebus for [[Barathrum]] to exactly meet his WJP (Barathrum is available in three themes).
* For one point more you can get a [[Nightwretch]] instead (or two for two), which many people consider a worthy upgrade for the gun.
* [[Seether]]s are sad when the enemy turns them around, because they HAVE to make a charge or run, but can't if they can see any enemies. TK solves this. Most people consider this using a band aid to affix a missing limb, though...

===First Seven Purchases===
A few veteran players have put their heads together and tried to figure out the seven best things to buy for this specific caster. This is ''not'' designed to add up to a nice round points limit, nor be balanced vs other "First Seven" lists you find on this website. It is simply going to give you some of the essentials this caster needs ''most'' of the time. 

# Warjack: [[Deathripper]] (x2)
# Warjack: [[Barathrum]]
# Solo: [[Void Archon]]
# Solo: [[Doctor Stygius]]
# Unit: [[Cephalyx Overlords]]
# Unit: [[Asphyxious4]]
# Warjack: [[Stalker]]

Scaverous' top 7 is a bit funny, in that it is mostly Mercenary/Partisan models instead of Cryx models. On the bright side, it does let you expand into any theme very easily.

=Other=
===Trivia===
* Released in the [[Wrath]] book (2011)
* Nicknames: Scavy

===Other Cryx models===
{{Index Cryx}}

===Rules Clarifications===
{{RCbox2
|Name=Feat : Black Gate
|list=* Black Gate doesn't affect enemies that use a Magic Ability to cast a spell.
* Black Gate doesn't affect what spells can/can't be cast via [[Geomancy]], [[Spell Slave]], [[Blood Boon]], etc. ('''[http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?259625-Lord-Exhumor-Scaverous-s-Feat-Enemy-spellslaves-and-geomancy&p=3650601&viewfull=1#post3650601 Infernal Confirmation]''')
* When combined with other abilities that change COST (such as [[Lamentation]]) use normal maths: double/halve first, then add/subtract. ('''[http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?262863-Lamentation-versus-Rites-of-the-Wurm&p=3720029&viewfull=1#post3720029 Infernal Ruling]''') 
}}

{{RC Magical Damage}}
{{RC Thresher}}

{{RC Warcaster}}
{{RC Undead}}
{{RC Knowledge of the Damned}}
{{RC Cull Soul}}
{{RC Death Ward}}

{{RC Excarnate}}
{{RC Feast of Worms}}
{{RC Icy Grip}}
{{RC Soul Harvester}}
{{RC Telekinesis}}