Dr. Arkadius

Dr. Arkadius is a skilled surgeon and scientist with an obsession for the manipulation and development of life. Constantly striving to create ever more terrible warbeasts, strengthening their bodies, making them more aggressive, and healing their wounds in battle. Dr. Arkadius can also turn his skills upon his enemies, using his combat syringe to inject potent serums designed to scramble a target’s higher brain functions or even usurp control of its body.

Basic Info

• Minion - In a 2+ warlock game, Arkadius can work for Template:Circle minion, Template:Legion minion, or Template:Skorne minion.
• 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.

Feat: Monster Mayhem

Warbeasts in Arkadius' battlegroup can immediately frenzy. A model can frenzy even if it has already activated this turn, and it can activate later this turn even if it frenzies as a result of Monster Mayhem. When a warbeast frenzies as a result of Monster Mayhem, you can choose the target if the target is currently in Arkadius' Template:CTRL range.

Abilities

• Template:Limited Battlegroup. Gorax Ragers in Arkadius' battlegroup become Minion warbeasts instead of a Circle warbeasts.
• Template:Maltreatment
• Template:Reposition 3

Weapons

• Combat Syringe - 0.5" reach, melee weapon with no damage roll
  • Template:Needle
  • Template:Attack Type
    • Template:Anaesthesia
    • Template:Brain Damage
    • Template:Raw Adrenaline

Spells

{{Category: Template:AggravatorTemplate:Crippling GraspTemplate:Forced EvolutionTemplate:Guardian BeastTemplate:Primal ShockTemplate:Psycho Surgery }}[[Category: Template:AggravatorTemplate:Crippling GraspTemplate:Forced EvolutionTemplate:Guardian BeastTemplate:Primal ShockTemplate:Psycho Surgery ]]

Theme Forces

• Template:Thornfall
• Template:Will Work for Food

Thoughts on Dr. Arkadius

Dr. Arkadius in a nutshell

Arkadius is a fairly tightly focused minion battlegroup warlock whose ability to use his feat to throw his battlegroup 8" or more up the table can be utterly terrifying and give him the overwhelming majority of alpha strikes.

Maximising his Feat & Spells

Your first turn positioning, or sometimes deployment when going second, is critical to ensure an effective feat. Planning ahead for what is going to frenzy onto what is very helpful. While Arkadius' feat lets you choose frenzy targets in his control area, you'll often want to choose a target outside of that range in order to get the right angle or to close the maximum distance. In this case, positioning your beasts facing at angles away from each other so they can only see enemy models lets them use the feat to fail charges, then activate and charge again. Incorporeal models can safely be used as frenzy targets to guide your beasts more precisely.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Squishy
• Farrow warbeasts are also squishy; if he can't get a good alpha strike he can lose out on attrition
• Offers little support to anything besides warbeasts
• He has probably the highest skill ceiling, and skill floor, of any caster in the game, making him unfriendly for new players, and there aren't that many veterans who play him successfully either. On the bright side, he is probably the best caster in the game, so the effort put into learning him will be well worth the effort.

Tricks & Tips

• Arkadius' feat can be used as a movement trick to move up the board quicker or set up for the alpha strike, as long as at least one target is in his CTRL range.
• His feat can also be used to get a warbeast poised to frenzy next round into an advantageous position or destroy it before it frenzies the next round.
• The combination of Forced Evolution and Primal on a War Hog against a Crippling Grasp-ed opponent can take down almost anything, even without forcing for Aggression Dial, allowing you to feat and frenzy your beasts through to any casters hiding behind.

List Building Advice

Strategy

Arkadius gives his beasts some of the longest threat ranges in the game. His typical gameplan involves using the feat to deliver an overwhelming alpha strike, and ride that out to an assassination or attrition victory. The extreme threat ranges under his feat can also be used to assassinate unwary opponents.

Arkadius likes warbeasts and lots of them. Though he is a battlegroup focused caster, many of his abilities also work on warbeasts outside his battlegroup.

Theme thoughts

As a warbeast focused warlock he's normally taken in Will Work for Food where his beasts get overtake, pay for their own support, and can access pathfinder.

Typical Army

Notable warbeasts with him are:

• Road Hog - Raw Adrenaline boosts the entire spray if it's the next attack. 28" threat range on the sprays and 19" in melee can catch people off guard. If the road hog activates before Arkadius' feat, it is possible to sprint twice in one turn.
• War Hog - Arkadius' War Hogs are among the hardest hitting models in the game, and they get an incredible 17" threat range out of his feat.
• Gorax Rager - Excellent target for Maltreatment, as they get bonuses for being damaged. Free charges and an extra p+s result in far better performance into armor than its battleboar competitor, and overtake from the Will Work for Food theme benefit gives you half the advantage of the battleboar.
• Battle Boar - the more anti infantry focused competitor to the Gorax, you have to pay for your charges but you gain +1 armour and a conditional berserk.
• Gun Boar and Splatter Boar can get fully boosted shots from ark's needle; particularly valuable on out of activation shots from targ.
• Dahlia Hallyr & Skarath The danger noodle loves the def buff from forced evolution, and Arkadius can tune its damage up to be a real threat to heavies. The boosted sprays/paralysis and native pathfinder are also very valuable.

Support (either theme):

• Targ - Arkadius' needle can fully boost an ancillary attack, which is great on our beasts with ranged attacks. Herding can be very useful to keep Arkadius at a safe distance while getting value out of his threat ranges. Plus, upkeeping a spell for free is great value for 3 points.

Support (Will Work For Food only):

• Gatorman Witch Doctor - Arkadius lacks a way to give his battlegroup pathfinder; flying through obstructions with feat is gravy.
• Swamp Gobber Chef - Fury management is always appreciated.

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.

1. Warbeast: War Hog
2. Warbeast: War Hog
3. Warbeast: Road Hog
4. Warbeast: Road Hog
5. Warbeast: Battle Boar
6. Solo: Targ
7. Unit: Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

Other

Trivia

File:Arkadius Alt.jpg

Bride of Arkadius, Limited Edition Sculpt (Mini Crate)

• Template:LES
• Released in Forces of Hordes: Minions (2011)

Video Battle Reports

• 2019.04 Connor's Retribution Analysis, vs Kaelyssa1
• 2018.11 Arcane Assist, vs Reznik2
• 2018.10 Arcane Assist, vs Krueger2
• Template:VBR