The Heretic

"True and false are merely words, to turn the masses into herds."

The last of the Defiers to spurn Menoth, the Heretic is a self-styled god who rebelled against his creator. Believing all are able to become divine, he fashioned himself into a paragon of his own distorted virtues. Now the Heretic wishes to dethrone the God of Man and free all of his creation from his laws.

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.

Trump Arcana: Reckoning

• Trigger - The warlock can play this card when an enemy model destroys or RFPs a friendly Faction warrior model in the warlock's Template:CTRL range.
• Effect - Friendly Faction models gain +2 to attack and damage rolls against the attacking enemy model/unit. When that enemy model/unit is destroyed or RFP'd, choose another enemy model/unit to be affected by Reckoning. Reckoning lasts for one round.

Grymkin warlocks use Arcana instead of feats.
At the start of every game, the Grymkin player chooses 3 Arcana Cards for that game. One card must be the warlock's unique Trump Card (above) but the other two are from the generic set.
During the game, the Grymkin player can use each chosen Arcana once, at any time that the trigger conditions are met.

Abilities

• Template:Divinity
• Template:Godlike Power
• Template:Sacred Ward

Weapons

Execrator
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		2				6				13
Template:Magical Damage Template:Dispel Template:Guided

Spells

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[[:Category:{{{name}}}|{{{name}}}]]	Cost	RNG	AOE	POW	DUR	OFF
	8	1	6	12	up	no
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	8	1	6	12	up	no
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Theme Forces

• Template:Bump in the Night. He gains Rise in this theme.
• Template:Dark Menagerie

Thoughts on The Heretic

The Heretic in a nutshell

The Heretic is a warlock with great tools for almost all situations. He is the closest thing Grymkin have to a generalist caster

He bears quite a few similarities with another divine person, The Harbinger of Menoth:

• both share the Divinity trait, making them well-defended against pop-and-drop assassinations
• has auto-hitting close combat attacks
• and despite that, he is not a frontline warlock

The Heretic is also protected from spells, while his Godlike Power allows him to turn the most potent spells against his enemies.

Arcana thoughts

Reckoning is one of the best Arcana in the faction, and surely the best trump card among the Grymkin warlocks. It gives an army-wide equivalent of Prey, offering an outstanding turn where you can decimate your opponent. If you can capitalize it with a good support (such as stealing a key debuff with Godlike Power), few enemy will stand before you.

Note that transferring damage does not cause the enemy model to destroy the model, so Reckoning can't be triggered due to transferring damage. Infernal

Spell thoughts

• Fury - The bread & butter support spell, making any model in your army stronger. You almost always want to cast Fury every turn, parking it on whatever can do the most damage. Alternatively cast it on The Heretic himself and kill whatever you need to with his auto-hitting staff.
• Gallows - Expensive spell, which can be great starting point for assassinations or for picking out critical but tough targets such as command attachements.
• Hex Blast - Standard zapping spell, which sadly works only on a direct hit. Has the same dispelling effect as The Heretic's melee weapon, which strongly discourages enemy upkeeps finding themselves on your frontline.
• Rebuke - Beside the self evident benefits (blunt charges, stop slams, prevent head-butts, and block tricks with trampling & reposition), do not forget about the orders. Losing "Press Forward" will bereft enemy units of run and charge (and thus, Assault). Also nullifies other orders, like "Cautious Advance", or "Shield Wall".
• Wall of Fire - A great board control tool, and ideal deterrent for jamming units and light infantry. Combines nicely with the Desolation arcana. You can also pull targets into/through with Gallows or pull attacks seen on the Gorehound or Baron Tonguelick.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Average defensive stats. Like many other Grymkin models, the Heretic relies on his defensive rules to stay safe.
• Medium base makes screening somewhat challenging. This being said there are several medium or larger base models in Grymkin which love the kind of support the Heretic provides.
• Vulnerable to anti-magic tricks, especially ones which strip your upkeeps. Losing Fury on a key attack can be devastating.
• Not much in the way of defensive boosts for his army. This can be somewhat mitigated by picking the right arcana - for example Heretic's high command range lets him trigger the Shroud arcana easily.

Tricks & Tips

• Panic-dispel: if your unit suffers from a nasty upkeep, whack them into the back with the Execrator for instant dispelling.
• Godlike Power, along with the Arcana mechanism offers you great flexibility. You should aim for the top spells on your enemy's card, which might be useful to you. Some examples from the most desirable ones:
  • Universal force multipliers - spells, which support all of your army, be it unit or battlegroup member. Spells, like Fog of War, Windstorm, Deflection and Deceleration should also be listed here, but considering your sub-par ranged threat, the enemy will rarely cast them against you.
    • Dark Guidance, Signs & Portents, Incite, Crusader's Call, Dash - warrior models only
  • Universal de-buffs - spells, which mess around with the whole enemy force.
    • Inhospitable Ground, Purification, Star-Crossed
  • Universal battlegroup buffs - spells, which enhance your whole battlegroup's abilities
    • Mobility, Host of Shadows, Energizer, Psycho Surgery, Unstoppable Force, Manifest Destiny
  • Targeted buffs - enhancing spells, which affect either a single model in a unit/battlegroup, or a single unit.
    • Abuse, Battle Lust, Hand of Fate, Temporal Acceleration, Revive, Scything Touch
  • Targeted de-buffs - single unit/model spells, which put penalty on enemy models' stats
    • Parasite, Crippling Grasp. Creating a smoke wall from Freezing Mist is also an efficient way to block charges, or incur MAT penalty upon your enemy.
  • Self - spells, which purely for your caster, either on the attack, or on the defence
    • Blood of Kings, Engine of Destruction, Flashing Blade, Quickness, Skyborne, Teleport

List Building Advice

Strategy

Template:Header The Heretic has a strong attrition game thanks to his powerful spells, notably Fury & Rebuke. Fury can be used to allow cheaper models, such as Gorehounds or Murder Crows, to trade up for more much more expensive enemy targets. Rebuke takes away much of enemy infantry's output, especially jamming infantry which rely on defensive orders to do work (screw you Rocketmen!). The Heretic is a strong damage dealer himself, and his ability to leverage his enemy's spell list only gains in value as the game progresses and options leave the table.

Template:Header The Heretic's scenario game is much the same as his Attrition game; kill enemies efficiently by cycling Fury while leveraging his other spells & abilities as the opportunities present themselves. The big difference is a shift from killing big things, to killing things in zones.

Template:Header The Heretic has an amazing Assassination game thanks to a very offensive spell list and a strong desire to move up the table to maximize his ability to steal spells. Oftentimes Assassinations with the Heretic will take place later in the game, as Fury & Rebuke make their presence felt on the efficiency of the enemy army. This late game assassination is perfect for the Heretic, who can park Fury on himself for some more than robust personal output.

Template:Header The Heretic is a warcaster who can take any model in the faction and make them better (Syvestro or Deneghra1 are good examples of this archetype). Fury is an extremely powerful spell which is good on pretty much every Grymkin model, and as such there are no obvious best choices with the Heretic.

Thus a good place to start your army is figuring out how to cover the Heretic's weaknesses:

• Medium base, making him more vulnerable to shooting. Good options here include Piggybacks, Cage Ragers, or the Death Knell to block line of sight, and Crabbits for Shield Guard.
• Lack of defensive buffs which can be applied to his army. The Death Knell obviously covers this weakness, with other defensive support options being the Twilight Sisters or the Grave Ghoul.
• His trump arcana requiring a friendly warrior to die. Dread Rots and the Malady Man can be taken in both themes, with Gremlin Swarms and Hollowmen being theme specific options.

Theme Thoughts

Dark Menagerie is a very strong theme with the Heretic. Fury makes Grymkin's already above average melee 'beasts even scarier, and free Crabbits are ideal for protecting the Heretic from enemy fire. Gremlin Swarms can be used to trigger Reckoning, though as of Jan 2019 most Dark Menagerie Heretic lists also include a min or max unit of Dread Rots for this purpose.

In Bump in the Night the Heretic has more options, able to still rely on heavies and the Death Knell, but gaining access to an additional blocking option in the form of Piggybacks, a pair of amazing Fury targets in Hollowmen & Murder Crows, and many more warriors to trigger his arcana. It's worth starting here with the Heretic until you are familiar with how to maximize the Gremlin Swarms in Dark Menagerie.

Army

• Gorehounds are very strong with the Heretic, able to abuse Fury to deal critical damage to much larger targets. The speed also means that the Gorehound can often start in the Heretic's cast range, then rocket out to whatever part of the table needs something dead.
• A Cage Rager should always be considered with the Heretic, less for the anti-magic aura (Heretic does that himself, although doubling up on effects is a good strategy for attrition or scenario based lists) and more for the arc node. Threatening Rebuke across the board is killer, especially as a way to deliver a Fury-laden Gorehound or Rattler.
• The Death Knell is often paired with the Heretic, due to the immense value of its defensive aura to a caster who wants to be in the centre of the table for most of the game.
• A Clockatrice or two is really strong in a more control oriented Heretic build, able to limit charge lanes and threaten over terrain with Flying. The Clockatrice's Assault & spray combination also make it quite a good Fury target, able to hit multiple enemies at once (effective POW 17 ain't shabby on a 'beast which can fly and is immune to frenzy).
• Baron Tonguelick is a worthy inclusion, as you are always going to be able to use his free upkeep (for Fury or Rebuke) and are likely to want his cloud (to help put the Heretic further up the table where he wants to be). Spell Slave + Gallows is cute, allowing you to squeeze out just that little bit more threat.

Bump-only

• Piggybacks, especially with the Officer, are very good with the Heretic, acting as a beefy skirmishing unit which also happens to take Fury extremely well.

Starting a 25 point Brawl list

In 2021.04 Phillip Melvin, one of the LOS authors, put together this list for the Brawlmachine format. It was then updated for the 2021.10 errata. He even wrote about it's playstyle and expanding it beyond 25 points, which you can read here.

Theme - Bump in the Night

The Heretic: [+28 WBP]

• Clockatrice: [13 pts]
• Rattler: [8 pts]
• Gorehound: [6 pts]
• Crabbit: [3 pts]

Glimmer Imp: [3 pts]

Cask Imps (x2): [1 pt]

Neigh Slayers (Max unit): [12 pts]

• Command Attachment: [4 pts]

Mad Caps: [3 pts]

Malady Man: [Free] Template:Grey

Template:Brawl

Other

Trivia

• Released with the core Faction, 2017.03
• The Heretic has been released in both plastic and metal/resin, with the plastic version coming in the 2017 Army Box

Video Battle Reports

• 2018.09 Feat Fetish 75 points vs Nemo2
• Template:VBR