Skarre, Admiral of the Black Fleet
Perched on the shattered timbers of her ghost ship, Skarre Ravenmane brings ruin to the mainland, the thudding of her iron cannons beating out a rhythm of war wherever she travels. She chooses companions aboard her funeral ship from the most accomplished Satyxis reavers, sending them into masses of infantry to claim a plunder of fresh blood. The ghostly chariot she rides was once the wreckage of a ship captained by pirate King Moorcraig, who had defied Toruk and died in the Dragonfather's all-consuming flames. The ancient dead hold this accursed vessel's shattered aft section aloft and are ground under its hull as it glides across the earth.
Basic Info
Warcaster abilities:
Feat : Blood Rite
Skarre can suffer 1 damage point to cast a spell instead of spending focus this activation. She can cast each of her spells once as a result of Blood Rite.
Abilities
Weapons
- Cannon (x2) - 12" range, 3" AOE, POW 14 guns
- Hand Cannon - 12" range, POW 12 gun
- Ram - 1" reach, P+S 14 melee weapon
- Cutlass (x3) - 0.5" reach, P+S 9 melee weapons
Spells
{{Category: Template:Dark WavesTemplate:DecelerationTemplate:Draconic BlessingTemplate:Guided Fire }}[[Category: Template:Dark WavesTemplate:DecelerationTemplate:Draconic BlessingTemplate:Guided Fire ]]
Theme Forces
- Template:Black Industries
- Template:Dark Host
- Template:The Ghost Fleet
- Template:Scourge of the Broken Coast
Thoughts on Skarre3
Skarre3 in a nutshell
Skarre, Admiral of the Black Fleet, is a highly versatile and powerful warcaster that is more than capable of leading any Cryx army. Thanks to her flexible spell list, Skarre is a strong contender for all of Cryx’s theme forces. Spells such as Guided Fire allow Skarre to run a very battlegroup-centric Black Industries army, focused on ranged warjacks such as the Kraken, Reaper, or Leviathan. On the other hand, spells such as Dash also allow Skarre to run a dangerously fast infantry-centric Scourge of the Broken Coast army. Whether you like the look of models such as the newly resculpted Satyxis Raiders or the upcoming Scharde Pirates, Skarre can make any infantry fighting under her banner shine.
Skarre 3 is a support-style Warcaster that brings a solid shooting platform to the table. She should synergize well with her battle group and supports a variety of Cryx options. Reinforcements [Living] gives excellent support to the living portions of the Black Fleet (Scourge of the Broken Coast). Guided Fire and Deceleration have proved very powerful in Black Industries and Infernal Machines lists.
Spell thoughts
- Dash - Because Skarre3 isn't a warrior model, she doesn't get Parry from this spell. Don't try for a flying assassination just to die to free strikes!
- Draconic Blessing - Blighted Trollkin Marauders have the Thrown rule on their weapons, which means the +2 STR translates to +2 POW on their ranged attacks.
Feat thoughts
While her feat doesn't read as impressive as other casters, remember that the damage you take to cast every one of her spells can be healed either by spending focus (effectively reducing the cost of her spells to 1), or by having a model with the Repair ability patch her up and largely negate the 'drawback'.
Her feat turn becomes more about leveraging your newly freed up focus stack to either position aggressively and camp or load up a few warjacks.
Drawbacks & Downsides
- Template:BAHI2
- She is on a huge base, with mediocre defensive stats. She can die very fast if you are not careful. In particular, avoid to greedily send her in melee if that does not win you the game
- No damage buff for ranged attacks.
Tricks & Tips
- Although you need to carefully consider if/when to get into melee, Skarre on a Boat can potentially do quite a bit there.
- She's a living model, not a construct, so Axiara can target the boat with battle plans.
- Mostly you'll give her Reposition so the boat can move, shoot/cast spells, then scoot back to safety.
- But you could give her Dodge (although DEF 12 won't get missed that often) ...
- ... or even Prowl. Yes, she can get stealth via Prowl, even though battle engines never get the +2 DEF from concealment. There is a difference between "Does this model have concealment (and thus get Prowl)?" and "Does this model benefit from concealment (and thus get +2 DEF)?"
- Resolve Reinforcements before you use rules like Vengeance or the heal from a Steamroller Stockpile.
List Building Advice
Strategy
Skarre3 is one of those toolbox casters who don't have one set strategy, but instead adapts to whatever is needed for a particular matchup. So what she "needs" to have in her army list is kind of dictated by how you want to play her!
In saying that, though, she does like to buff her army to work at an attrition advantage then, when your enemy's offensive power is somewhat depleted, Skarre can make her presence felt with her natural tankiness and personal offensive potential.
Leverage Skarre’s spells and abilities to again an advantage on attrition. Select the right spells for the right occasion. If you need to win a firefight, use Deceleration and Guided Fire. To push aggressively for scenario, consider Deceleration and Dash. Dark Waves and Dash can give you unusual reach into the enemy lines for spot removal or even assassination. Draconic Strength is so awesome that it might be hard to find who doesn’t want this spell.
Theme thoughts
Short version: Skarre3 is probably best in Scourge of the Broken Coast.
- Black Ogrun Iron Mongers are a fantastic addition. Between decent armor, dismantle, and their ability to repair, they make competent guardians for Skarre and her typically ranged battlegroup.
- Cephalyx Overlords are a good option in the undead themes, because they become your only Reinforcement target. They're not a shabby option in the living themes, either, for that matter.
This is the theme to go in if you want her to lead a 'jack gunline. Deceleration plus Carapace makes your jacks +6 ARM vs shooting, Guided Fire gives you plenty of accuracy, and Dark Waters is just silly with so many 'jacks to choose from, something will always be able to move somewhere interesting.
- You'll want Black Ogrun Ironmongers for a reinforcement target.
- You'll probably take multiple Leviathans.
This is where it's at, tbh. The theme is just so diverse that you can make a much better generalist list with it, and Skarre3 is the supreme generalist. Slaughter Fleet doesn't lean hard into any part of her kit, but it uses everything on her card which no other theme really does.
- Bloodgorgers or Marauders are an excellent target for Draconic Blessing. Note that the Marauder's guns also benefit from the STR buff.
- Kharybdis makes excellent use of Guided Fire.
- A Kraken and a sea of medium-based models to screen your two huge bases has proven quite effective. The Kraken can use its 4" noodle arms to reach over the sea.
- Satyxis are just silly with Dash - it's not the +1 SPD that does it (although that is nice to have), but rather the stupid mobility tricks enabled by giving Satyxis of all stripes Parry. Decel is quite nice in scourge to save your super-solos from scattering blasts and the like, but will do very little to protect infantry.
- Satyxis Blood Priestess - She does a ton for Skarre. Granting Sucker! helps her stay alive, as does Distillation or dispelling upkeeps and animi, while the free upkeep helps her focus efficiency. Rites of Blood does nothing for her though, as all of her spells are either target SELF, an upkeep or range CTRL.
In Dark Host you're looking to leverage Deceleration in combo with the Wraith Engine and/or Darragh to make Banes nigh-immune to small arms fire, and leveraging Dash in combo with Darragh's Death Ride to give you a legitimate threat.
- Warriors become ARM 19 with tough/Rise, Bane Knights become ARM 22 while B2B, and Bane Riders are ARM 22 with 5 boxes and Vengeance.
- Desecrators are the frequently the warjack of choice for Dark Host given their inherent synergy with Bane Infantry. With Skarre they benefit her guided fire and ranged armor buff.
- Ragman the usual damage buff, but he also is a huge boon to survivability to her. The Sucker granted by the Blood Priestess is not optional, so armies like SHadows of the Retribution or Gravediggers will weather her with low POW shooting, trying to kill all of her sucker targets first since she has to bounce all of the shots into something. If Ragman is around, she can Sucker into him, he can then Sac Pawn it back into her, where low POW shooting will most likely bounce off her massive hull.
Battlegroup
- Ranged jacks. Untypically for Cryx, she has very few uses for an arc node, and she don't help melee jacks that much, with only a single target upkeep usually better used with infantry. Guided fire make spray much better, so a Defiler to deal with infantry and place Draconic Blessing more easily can still be useful.
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.
- Warjack: Leviathan
- Warjack: Leviathan
- Solo: Gerlak
- Solo: Axiara
- Solo: Satyxis Blood Priestess
- Unit: Blighted Trollkin Marauders
- Unit: Bloodgorgers + CA
Note that you should definitely magnetise the Leviathans, as it is very rare that any other Cryx caster will want two of them. Alternatively, you could swap them out for a single Kraken which has roughly the same amount of firepower.
Other
Trivia
- Originally released in the Black Fleet CID (2017.11)
- The sculptor, Doug Hamilton, took suggestions from the Cryx Facebook group for one of the crew members. The one with the scar and broken horn.
- She can be affected by a Repair roll, but her boat can never be fixed.
- Dark Waters has been nicknamed "Shipstream" due to its similarity with the Slipstream animus.
Other Cryx models
Video Battle Reports
Rules Clarifications
Template:RC Shadow Fire Template:RC Magical Weapon Template:RC Ram Template:RC Independent Attack
Template:RC Warcaster Template:RC Battle Engine Template:RC Flight Template:RC Dual Attack Template:RC Repairable Template:RC Reinforcements
Template:RC Dark Waves Template:RC Dash Template:RC Deceleration Template:RC Draconic Blessing Template:RC Guided Fire