View source for Zaal, the Ancestral Advocate

[[Skorne]] [[Category:Skorne]] [[:Category:Exalted|Exalted]][[Category:Exalted]] [[:Category:Legacy|Legacy]] [[Category:Legacy]] [[:Category:Warlock|Warlock]][[Category:Warlock]] [[Category:Leader]]

=Model stats and abilities=

<table>
   <tr>
      <td style = "border: 1px solid grey; vertical-align: top;">
{{Model-stats
| name  = Hellyth
| base  = 30 mm
| hp    = 15
| spd   = 7
| aat   = 6
| mat   = 6
| rat   = 7
| def   = 14
| arm   = 17
| arc   = 7
| ctrl  = 12
}}
</td>
      <td style = "border: 1px solid grey; vertical-align: top;"> <table > 
          {{Model Advantage | advantage = Resistance Fire | icon = Resistance Fire}}
          {{Model Advantage | advantage = Resistance Corrosion| icon = Resistance Corrosion}}
          {{Model Advantage | advantage = Pathfinder| icon = Pathfinder}}                    
          {{Model Advantage | advantage = Dual Attack | icon = Dual_attack}} Corrosion}}
          {{Model Advantage | advantage = Tough| icon = Tough}}   
          {{Model Advantage | advantage = Undead | icon = Undead}}
          {{Field Marshal | ability = Hyper-Aggressive}}            
          {{Model Ability | ability = Arcane Machinery}}
          {{Model Ability | ability = Arcane Calibrations}}
          {{Model Ability | ability = Ionization}}
          {{Model Ability | ability = Vexing Alignment}}
          {{Star Attack | ability = Death Rattle}}
          {{Star Attack| ability = Marionette}}
          {{Star Action| ability = Pupppet Master}}
          {{Model Ability | ability = Prowl}}
          {{Model Ability | ability = Reposition}}
          {{Model Ability | ability = Take Down}}
          {{Veteran Leader | ability = Assault Kommando}}

      </table> </td>
</table>

{{Warcaster}}

=Weapons=
   <table style="border-collapse: collapse;>       <tr>
		<th>Weapon</th><th>Type</th><th>Stats</th><th>Specials</th>
	   </tr>
        {WEAPONNAME1}}
        {WEAPONNAME2}}

</table>

=Feat=
FEATNAME
{{#ifexist: Template:Errata-FEATNAME| 
{{Template:Errata-FEATNAME}}
|  }}

=Spells=
{{SPELLNAME}}
{{SPELLNAME}}

==Spell Rack (Slots 2)==


=Errata=
No Errata specifically for this model. Ability errata will appear in an expandable box next to the rule (Pistol, for example).

=Changes and Updates=

=Lore=

=Trivia=

=Battle Reports=

=Videos=



----------LEGACY------------



''Supreme Aptimus Zaal exemplified the power of the extoller caste, whether communing with the honored dead or leading a host of ancestral guardians and immortals in battle. Mortally wounded in one such battle against Ios, Zaal refused to surrender to the Void, preserving himself with his last breath. His devoted followers recovered his sacral stone and fused him into a new form worthy of his stature. Zaal retains leadership of his caste as the Ancestral Advocate, and both his will and his connection to the spirit realm are stronger than ever.''

=Basic Info=
{{Infobox-Model
| name  = [[Zaal|Zaal2]]
| image = Zaa;,_the_Ancestral_Advocate.jpg
| base  = Medium
| spd   = 5
| str   = 8
| mat   = 6
| def   = 10
| arm   = 18
| cmd   = 8
| hp    = 18
| fury  = 7
| wbp   = +29
| fa    = C
}}

* {{Warlock}}

===Feat : Strength Eternal===
# [[Remove damage|Remove d6+3 damage points]] from each friendly Faction construct model currently in Zaal's {{CTRL}} range. [[Category: Remove Damage Feat]]
# While in Zaal's {{CTRL}} range, friendly Faction construct models gain +5 ARM.
: Strength Eternal lasts for one round.

=== Abilities===
* {{Construct}}
* {{Direct Spirits|{{Control}}}}
* {{Righteous Vengeance}}
* {{Reclaim|leeches fury|fury}}
* {{Soul Vessel}}
* {{Steady}}

===Weapons===
* '''Obsidian Staff''' - 2" reach, POW 6, P+S 14 melee weapon
** {{Magical Weapon}}
** {{Silencer}}

===Spells===
{{Spellbox|
{{Annihilation}}
{{Aura of Power}}
{{Mage Sight}}
{{Sunder Spirit}}
{{Vision}}
}}

===Theme Forces ===
* {{Disciples of Agony}} He Gains access to minion Warbeasts which count as Skorne due to theme.
* {{Masters of War}}. He gains [[Take Down|"Optional Take Down"]] in this theme
* {{The Exalted}}. In this theme he gains [[Immovable Object]] and starts the game with one soul token (which Cull Soul will immediately convert into +1 fury on your first turn).
* {{Winds of Death}}


= Thoughts on Zaal2 =
=== Zaal2 in a nutshell===
Zaal2 is an attrition warlock with three different games. The first is a Reclaim-into-Aura of Power engine. You kill one of Zaal's infantry, and the next hits you harder (and if you're running [[Immortals]] you have a turn when most of your infantry is ARM 22). The second is an assassination play if he has a huge stack of Fury. The third is that Mage Sight allows him to ignore quite a lot of defensive tech so he can run a pretty good shooting battlegroup. But it's generally infantry swarm ''or'' shooting battlegroup as both are expensive.

His fundamental concept involves using souls to break the normal amounts of Fury you can put out in a turn.

===Feat thoughts=== 
Zaal's feat is purely defensive, putting your [[Immortals]] up to ARM 22 - or your [[Supreme Guardian]]s up to ARM 24 and allowing you to no-sell most of a round of enemy attacks. 

===Spell thoughts===
* [[Aura of Power]] is a backbone spell, allowing his infantry to hit almost any target and swings the attrition game in your favour as you pick up boosts every time one of your models dies.
* [[Sunder Spirit]] is his assassination spell; this isn't something you plan to do - but if the enemy has had a very good turn it's often possible to tear the caster apart with all the souls you've collected. Zaal breaks the soul economy here. (If they were in 13" of you the Obsidian Staff can work here).
* [[Mage Sight]] helps the assassination game. And lets your beasts join in; Zaal really likes the [[Cyclops Shaman]] to help finish the job.
* [[Anihilation]] is just RFP tech that stores souls for next turn. No other caster would use this, but Zaal breaks the fury economy.

=== Drawbacks & Downsides ===
* His defensive stats are deceiving.  He has Khador jack Def but less Arm than one, and only an above average amount of boxes for a warlock. 
* No natural armor cracking
* He is begging for a construct warbeast (although a construct battle engine option isn't a bad second choice).

=== Tricks & Tips===
* The Ferox Assassination and the Immortal Assassination are both mentioned under their entries.
* The Zaal2 assassination. When Zaal2 has a large stack of fury he can spam Sunder Spirits until the enemy is dead. (If anyone's silly enough to end up within 2", you can splatter them with the Staff - but few are).
* Annihilator lets you bank souls if you're overflowing with them and don't know what to spend them on.
* He can be repaired, for instance from a [[Gobber Tinker]]
* Watch out for "cannot have damage removed" stuff (like [[Entropic Aura]]) which will negate your feat somewhat


=List Building Advice =
===Strategy===
Zaal is an excellent attrition warlock, able to fuel his Aura of Power thanks to Reclaim, and with a turn of high ARM. He also has two back pocket assassinations (a melee one thanks to a 13" threat range and his Sunder Spirit) - and when played in The Exalted has both a scenario threat thanks to the deceptive speed and mobility of the statues, and an Incorporeal Assassination. A huge multi-threat.

His infantry choices are variable but generally rely on numbers.

===Theme thoughts===
The Exalted is the obvious theme force for Zaal2, and almost builds itself.

{{Header|[[The Exalted]]}}

Frankly it's very rare he's not seen here. The only question is whether it's two units of Immortals and two Supreme Guardians or three and one - although it looks as if the Void Spirit may make its own argument for one of those options.

* [[Immortals]] - Immortals as a second wave are awesome with Zaal. Under his feat, enemy infantry need to charge to kill them, and enemy jacks/beasts don't kill enough. Under Vengeance, they do a lot of work. And with his aura and Vengeance, they become pretty effective assassins by making boosted attack rolls.
* [[Supreme Guardian]] - an ARM 19 construct with 33 hit boxes is an awesome thing to go with Zaal's feat.
* [[Hakaar the Destroyer]] is almost unkillable under his feat - and you bank souls early thanks to Direct Spirits. Also his Veteran Leader works for Zaal's spells!
* [[Ancestral Guardian]] isn't as good as Hakaar but still useful and still very tough on feat turn.

{{Header|[[Masters of War]]}}

There's enough infantry to feed his soul engine but it is normally a secondary choice for Zaal and the same sort of list with a single Supreme Guardian can get up to far weirder and more interesting shenanigans with [[Void Seer Mordikaar]]. Double Supreme Guardian on Feat turn gives you two huge ARM 24 bases, allowing you to no-sell even more of the enemy attacks than ARM 22 infantry would.

* [[Praetorian Swordsmen]] are cheap, effective, and make decent armor crackers with the CA. Remember that you can boost the off-hand sword attack when they charge under Power Swell.
* [[Praetorian Keltarii]] can go where they want and are hideous to unjam.
* [[Praetorian Karax]] are hard to beat if cheap souls are what you want - or the enemy is using blast damage.
* [[Ancestral Guardian]] and [[Hakaar the Destroyer]] - also protected on Zaal2's feat turn, and also sucking up souls
* [[Immortal Vessel]] for zappy assassinations and even more toughness.
* [[Gatorman Bokor & Bog Trog Swamp Shamblers]] With that many bodies, why not?

{{Header|[[Winds of Death]]}}

Similar to Masters of War, this can be a secondary choice.

* The Supreme Guardian, mentioned above, can also be taken in this theme.
* [[Venator Slingers]] - the cheapest available skirmish screen. They die early - but this just means feeding his soul engine.

{{Header|[[Disciples of Agony]]}}

He doesn't want to use this theme. He is not a battlegroup Warlock and this list has neither the Supreme Guardian nor Ancestral Guardians.

===Battlegroup ===
Other than his "free" warbeast points, he doesn't want to take beasts. What he does take is normally some of these:

* [[Titan Cannoneer]] - a great shooter.
* [[Mammoth]] - going all in in the shooting.
* [[Cyclops Raider]] - almost as good as the Cannoneer at shooting big things.
* [[Basilisk Krea]] - to spread its aura to protect your infantry from incoming fire
* [[Basilisk Drake]] - an all round good warbeast that flanks with the Krea and also lets Zaal Pathfinder.
* [[Cyclops Shaman]] What's not to love about the Shaman with Zaal? It's a shooty warbeast. It can add an extra Krea bubble. It can give Zaal a bigger threat range for Sunder Spirit assassinations. And it even brings anti-magic tech.
* [[Cyclops Brute]] - Shield Guard

===Starting a 25 point Brawl list===
In 2020.09 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this list for the [[Brawlmachine]] format. He even wrote about it's playstyle and expanding it beyond 25 points, which you can [https://www.loswarmachine.com/brawlmachine/2020/9/10/brawlmachine-list-building-skorne read here].

'''[[Theme - The Exalted]]

: '''Zaal, the Ancestral Advocate''': [+29 WBP]
:* [[Agonizer]]: [6 pts]
:* [[Basilisk Krea]]: [7 pts]
:* [[Bronzeback Titan]]: [17 pts]

: [[Hakaar the Destroyer]]: [Free] {{grey|{6 pts)}}
: [[Extoller Novitiate]]: [2 pts]
: [[Ancestral Guardian]]: [5 pts]
: [[Swamp Gobber Chef]]: [1 pt]

: [[Immortals]] (Max unit): [13 pts]
:* Command Attachment: [3 pts]

Total RRP: USD $235 (based on PP's online store prices 2021.05)

{{Brawl}}

=Other=
===Trivia=== 
[[File: Zaal1 Alt.jpg|thumb|Zaal, The Ancestral Eye. Lock n Load 2019 exclusive]]
* Released in [[Hordes: Devastation]] (2015)
* {{LES|Lock n Load 2019}}

===Video Battle Reports ===
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydQrq_uRemY 2019.11 Advanced Maneuvers], vs [[Deneghra1]]
* [https://youtu.be/u5REPQyUCe0?t=02m00s 2019.06 Lock & Load Champions Semi-Final], vs [[Child1]]
* [https://youtu.be/mFY3yRRfcFM 2019.03 Arcane Assist], vs [[Malakov2]]
* [https://youtu.be/8OxyUNVfwnA 2019.03 Deathclock Dave], vs [[Kolgrima1]]
* [https://youtu.be/C51sAB_hs80 2019.03 Feat Fetish], vs [[Fyanna2]]
* {{VBR}}

===Other Skorne models===
{{Index Skorne}}

===Rules Clarifications===
{{RC Magical Weapon}}
{{RC Silencer}}

{{RC Warlock}}
{{RC Construct}}
{{RC Direct Spirits}}
{{RC Righteous Vengeance}}
{{RC Reclaim}}
{{RC Soul Vessel}}
{{RC Steady}}

{{RC Annihilation}}
{{RC Aura of Power}}
{{RC Mage Sight}}
{{RC Sunder Spirit}}
{{RC Vision}}