Zaateroth, The Weaver of Shadows

Zaateroth is a fell master of tremendous intellect and will, an entity whose very appearance can overwhelm lesser minds, forcing them to their knees. She possesses an aura of alien grace and majesty that is both cold and terrifying. It is no wonder that in ancient times, those who witnessed Zaateroth thought her a dark goddess, and in occult texts, she is described as a personification of death and decay. At her least touch, corporeal forms begin to lose coherence, falling to ruin as if left to age for a thousand years. Shadows move about her like specters, and in these shadows is the essence of the Outer Abyss.

Basic Info

Feat - Whispering Void

1. While in Zaateroth's Template:Control range, friendly Faction models gain +3 DEF.
2. When an enemy model misses a friendly Faction model in Zaateroth's Template:Control range with an attack, immediately after the attack is resolved place the friendly model anywhere completely within 3" of its current location unless it was missed while advancing.

Whispering Void lasts for one round.

Abilities

• Template:Pathfinder
• Template:Long Shadows
• Template:Cull Soul
• Template:Veneficium

Weapons

Echoes of Dissolution
File:Gun icon.jpg		RNG			ROF			AOE			POW
		12			1			3			14
Template:Magical Weapon Template:Black Mark Template:Reload 1
Infernal Touch
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		1				3				10
Template:Magical Weapon

Spells

{{Category: Template:Black SpotTemplate:Ghost WalkTemplate:RebukeTemplate:Rites of TormentTemplate:Scything TouchTemplate:Stygian Abyss }}[[Category: Template:Black SpotTemplate:Ghost WalkTemplate:RebukeTemplate:Rites of TormentTemplate:Scything TouchTemplate:Stygian Abyss ]]

Theme Forces

• Template:Dark Legacy

Thoughts on Zaateroth

Zaateroth in a Nutshell

Zaateroth is a powerful control ’caster with a suite of powerful spells and rules to help disable her opponent’s army.

Zaateroth's "gun" is a high POW with an AOE that collects souls and can be reloaded, giving her a pretty decent method of Soul Collection against enemy infantry formations, or she could, y'know, just shoot the enemy warcaster with it and kill them. It is fairly versatile.

You may have noticed that Zaateroth has several upkeeps, and she should definitely make decisions between upkeeping them, which could put a strain on her ability to summon, while also casting other useful spells, like Ghost Walk, or even throwing out a boosted Stygian Abyss. However, since upkeeps can be a crucial part of her gameplan, her Veneficium will punish opponents who dispel them.

In concept, Zaateroth should provide powerful utility to her army (and some debuffs to her opponents), but not the pure arcane might of Agathon. She is also not as beefy as Omodamos, but much sturdier than Agathon. She should be versatile, and let you make different decisions each turn, between buffing your models, or trying to stymie your enemy, or summoning, or shooting, etc.

Spell thoughts

• Black Spot is both a DEF fixer and a source of extra attacks, two things that have synergy with the Desolator, allowing up to 4 sprays a turn against it's favorite food, infantry.
• Ghost walk get around some of the pathfinder issues certain infernals have. Note that is can be spell slaved by D'Vyaros which can save Zaat more essence than a harmonious exaltation would provide.
• Rebuke can heavily disrupt infantry that cannot cleanse it off them, especially if they need to charge to do work, or have shield wall.
• Rites of Torment is exactly the same as Road to War and Warpath, and is a ridiculously flexible threat extender. Use it to get your horrors up the board, or allow them a psuedo side-step to dig deeper into enemy lines, or reposition after one spray to line up more targets for the second... there's almost too many potential applications to list.
• Scything Touch is an easy to apply +2 melee damage swing, meaning Zaat can achieve a +6 with Desolators and the Hermit.
• Stygian Abyss is Zaateroths standard nuke spell, though there's little reason to use it when she's already sporting a great ranged attack. Boosting to try for the blind could potentially disable battle engines for a turn.

Feat thoughts

Zaateroth's feat ramps up her army defense, helping deliver them across the table, or making trading more challenging once the lines have clashed. Additionally, it forces your opponent to expend resources ensuring they actually hit, because a miss gives the model a free 3" place, almost like a Super Duper Dodge.

Drawbacks & Downsides

Between casting and/or maintaining 4 upkeeps, wanting to take advantage of the powerful summoning mechanic, and keeping some essence for transfers it really feels like 7 Essence is not enough. She has a large tool box of options, but if the right tool is not used at the right time it can be punished by the opposing player.

Getting her caught up in melee also feels quite bad as she has very little for melee output (single pow 10 at mat 6). Often ghostwalk is your best way out when opponents tie her up in melee, which feels rough due to how tight her essence feels already.

Her huge and powerful spell list feels very strong, but unlike traditional Warmachine and Hordes casters, you will often be spending 3-4 of your essence up front for a summon, leaving a lot of options for spells but very little essence to spend on them.

Tricks & Tips

Don't forget about her gun. With Black Spot and reload she could potentially kill 4 things and collect 4 souls. Also dont forget that her reload shot can be purchased with the soul from one of her earlier shots.

Don't be afraid to cut for essence if you only need to replenish 2 or 3 instead of sacrificing a cultist, particularly if there is a healing objective nearby.

List Building Advice

Strategy

Its main method of winning is ...Template:Ph
For example: "using her feat turn to get a melee/ranged/spell assassination" "attrition then win on scenario" "board control then win on scenario" "sending a jack in, to beat the enemy warcaster's face into pulp" "etc"

Army

Stuff it likes to take to help achieve this strategy is ... Template:Ph

Other

Trivia

• Released with the Faction launch (2019.06)