Immortal Vessel

Following the unconventional path laid by Zaal, the Ancestral Advocate, the extoller caste has redefined its destiny, and now its most esteemed members no longer fear the Void. Some whose service to Zaal has been exemplary are allowed to transcend death to become immortal vessels, a stature below the full exalted yet preserved for eternity in stone. These vessels serve as conduits for the mortitheurgical power of warlocks and can guide destructive magics to smite those marked for death by the ancestors.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Template:Construct
• Template:Gunfighter
• Template:Channeler
• Template:Set Defense
• Template:Soul Vessel
• Template:Telemetry

Weapons

• Spirit Eye - 8" range, POW 5 ranged attack
  • Template:Magical Damage
  • Template:Annihilating Gaze
  • Template:Ghost Shot

• Polearm - 2" reach, POW 5, P+S 12 melee attack
  • Damage Type: Magical

Theme Forces

• Template:Masters of War. He gains "Optional Take Down" in this theme. Two Template:Pagename solos can be taken as a single requisition option in this theme.
• Template:The Exalted. Immortal Vessel gains Immovable Object in this theme.
• Template:Winds of Death Two Template:Pagename solos can be taken as a single requisition option in this theme.

Thoughts on the Immortal Vessel

Immortal Vessel in a nutshell

The Immortal Vessel is an Extoller turned Immortal by Zaal. They are arcane versions of Immortals instead of the normal Warrior type. Their main selling points are telemetry and a fantastic, if somewhat short ranged anti living/undead gun. They are naturally quite durable and able to take a charge thanks to set defence but given their importance to a lot of Warlocks they do have a big bullseye on their stone heads.

That model change a lot of things for Skorne. It's at the same time a channeler and a way to land spell more easily and is popular in all the theme forces where it is allowed as one of the most expensive Requisition options

Combos & Synergies

At a trivial level the Immortal Vessel is an Immortal; it gets a speed buff from the Resonance of an Ancestral Guardian. This is of course a whole lot less important than its channeler and telemetry combination; most Skorne casters have great nukes with utility effects, some of which can be game-swinging. Normally you wouldn't want to risk your caster on something that has to hit and damage to have an effect, as it will go very badly if you fail, but with a channeler, it'll be worth trying. How much of an impact and what the vessel does can be broken up by group.

Unlocks the caster - The Skorne have a couple of weak offensive spellslingers who really shouldn't leave home without an arc node.

• Beast Master Xekaar Mortality, Pursuit, and Deadweight are all excellent spells and Telemetry gives him the ability to hit, making him a nasty debuff caster with a strong melee defensive feat rather than a caster that has to take big risks if he tries to use Alpha Hunter.
• Lord Tyrant Hexeris (Hexeris 1) officially comes with a spell that lets him channel (Soul Slave). It is however tricky to use and can give order of activation issues; especially as for the initial cast Hexeris needs to be within 6" of the recipient beast. A channeler really unlocks this, and for offensive spells he has Parasite, Obliteration, and Sunder Spirit.

Opens the Toolbox - Skorne have a few casters that, while they don't rely on offensive spells, as above, become a lot more threatening with the combination of channeler and telemetry to augment their Fury 6.

• Archdomina Makeda (Makeda 1): Jackhammer is a great spell with a problem with a 6" range. More importantly The Lash gives an unexpected 2" movement that can catch people by surprise, and is much easier to land with a roaming channeler.
• Supreme Archdomina Makeda (Makeda 2): Prostration is an excellent nuke limited mainly by its range. Opponents are not generally thinking about her knockdown.
• Makeda & the Exalted Court (Makeda 3): Run this guy up to a clump of squishy enemies before feat turn, then commit Makeda to a valuable target. Blood Boon Eliminator into the squishies via the Vessel after you score your first kill... and profit.
• Lord Assassin Morghoul (Morghoul 2): A channeler lets Morghoul throw Mortality where he wants, and Telemetry gives him a much better chance of landing it. Also Flesh Hooks can be a really useful utility nuke.
• Dominar Morghoul & Escorts (Morghoul 3): Blind whatever, whereever.
• Supreme Aptimus Zaal & Kovaas (Zaal 1): Zaal has "Old Man" defensive stats and mostly upkeep spells; an Immortal Vessel lets him use Hex Blast to blow upkeep spells off enemies. (He's also Fury 7 unlike the rest of this list).

Telemetry's great for spell slinging Some Skorne warlocks don't need arc nodes but do sling offensive spells a lot. This means that although it's not a gamechanger +2 to hit on their offensive spells is really useful.

• Dominar Rasheth, Void Seer Mordikaar, and Lord Arbiter Hexeris all have their own ways of channeling (although Rasheth doesn't have to kill his infantry if he has an Immortal Vessel) so that isn't a gamechanger. But given they all want to land their spells 3 points for a +2 to hit bubble can really tune all three of them up. In general however these three (especially Rasheth) don't need the Vessel that much.
• Zaal the Ancestral Advocate: He doesn't normally want to channel - but for a spellslinging assassination when he has a stack of souls then both channeling and telemetry are great. Again +2 to hit - and another option for getting in range of the enemy caster. Oh, and it benefits from his feat. It's not uncommon for him to bring one in The Exalted for both spot removal and assassination.

The Rest In general the other Skorne warlocks don't have much use for the vessel, and Primus Jalaam, Tyrant Xerxis, and Lord Tyrant Zaadesh don't have an offensive spell between them. The two Fury 5 casters can use the Vessel but don't use it so much.

Drawbacks & downsides

• There are only a tiny handful of times when the Vessel isn't a second choice to Aptimus Marketh.
• The Spirit Eye being only POW 5 vs constructs and Archon’s can be annoying.
• The FA of the immortal vessel means you won’t always get Telemetry where ever you want it.
• Poor accuracy on either ranged or melee attacks - though this isn’t why you play this model.

Tricks & Tips

• Channeling into the back arc is a further +2 to hit
• You can run and channel
• Don't forget the spirit eye. It can really annoy gargantuans and is worth a shot if you aren't setting up anything else. (It's generally a lot better than the polearm).
• Remember that the RNG of most of Skorne's attack spells is 8" (or less), which means Telemetry likely applies to all your channeled spells.

Other

Trivia

• Released in the Exalted expansion (2018.10)