Exulon Thexus

Rising from an endless complex of tunnels beneath the earth, Exulon Thexus leads the armies of the inscrutable cephalyx in their cruel assaults. A master manipulator, this potent warcaster controls the minds and bodies of [its] own troops and the enemy alike. With terrifying precision Exulon Thexus can push [its] troops beyond the breaking point and scatter the forces of [its] enemies with the fell power of [its] alien mind.

Basic Info

Mercenary - In a 2+ caster game, this model can work for Template:Cryx Mercenary.

Warcaster abilities:

• Focus Manipulation

• Battlegroup Controller

• Power Field

• Spellcaster

• Independent Model

• Leader

• Template:Cephalyx Warcaster

Feat : Telekinetic Tide

Push each enemy non-warcaster, non-warlock model currently in Thexus' Template:CTRL range 2" in any direction.

Abilities

• Template:Pathfinder
• Template:Aggressive Reaction
• Template:Sacrificial Pawn
• Template:Spell Driver

Weapons

Prosthetic Blades
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		1				4				11
Template:Inflict Pain

Spells

{{Category: Template:DecelerationTemplate:Hex BlastTemplate:InfluenceTemplate:Psycho SurgeryTemplate:RampagerTemplate:Telekinesis }}[[Category: Template:DecelerationTemplate:Hex BlastTemplate:InfluenceTemplate:Psycho SurgeryTemplate:RampagerTemplate:Telekinesis ]]

Theme Forces

• Template:Operating Theater

Thoughts on Exulon Thexus

Exulon Thexus in a nutshell

Thexus likes to stay back and drive spells through [its] monstrosities, letting [its] army do the work for it. Telekinesis sets up charge lanes and makes positioning a nightmare for your opponent. There will eventually come a moment when Thexus surges forward & feats, picking apart the entire battlefield to [its] liking, often being able to set up for an assassination run.

Feat thoughts

A small movement on all enemy models in control means opened charge lanes, perfectly arranged arcs for Wrecker Threshers or charges, lines of models to target with Mind Bender sprays or close together models from different units for removing multiple upkeeps with one well-placed Hex Blast. You typically want to aim for a turn 3 feat, although a turn 2-4 assassination run feat is perfectly possible. (Note - Push effects do not allow you to change facing of the enemy model, which can be confusing at first because Telekenisis does)

Spell thoughts

• Deceleration - Best used to protect your army for the first two turns, then use to reduce your enemy's feat turn.
• Hex Blast - Useful to get enemy upkeeps off of your monstrosities (this effectively cuts the cost of the spell by 1, as the monstrosity gains focus every time it takes damage), or target a single model in one of your units to remove upkeeps there.
• Influence - A solid spell for nuking enemy officers or command attachments. Especially good against armies with lots of Weapon Master or strong ranged infantry. (Eiryss1 deserves a special mention, as if she is placed poorly, you can Influence her and shoot the enemy caster to remove all of their focus or fury)
• Psycho Surgery - A remarkably efficient heal, especially considering how much spot damage you are going to be dealing to your own monstrosities.
• Rampager - An okay spell only useful against Hordes factions (Competitive Note - As of August 2018, the meta is extremely balanced in terms of faction diversity, meaning a little more than 2/5 of your games should be against a Hordes faction. Rampager really switches on in those games, allowing you to open up charge lanes and clear annoying enemy solos. This spell can also be key to a feat-turn assassination, by essentially giving you an extra attack from a heavy on the enemy caster.).

Drawbacks & Downsides

• Thexus' DEF is okay, but [its] ARM is bad. Keep [it] safe.
• Driving spells through monstrosities hurts them, don't kill off your own models (Counterpoint, that's why Psycho Surgery exists)
• Thexus really wants to be right in the middle of the table to maximize the effect of [its] feat, but really wants to be as far away from the combat as possible
• Thexus has no abilities which directly buff any models in [its] army or directly debuff any enemy models (arguably Telekenisis acts as a debuff by spinning around key enemy models). This forces [it] to rely on the supporting Cephalyx models, and without any on the table it becomes difficult to even deal with an enemy heavy.
• Be very wary of abilities which allow your enemy to redirect or prevent your Telekenisis. It is your key spell, and without it Thexus struggles to get anything done.

Tricks & Tips

• Cephalyx warcasters caun heal their monstrosities just like warlocks can heal warbeasts. Thexus usually has a better time simply casting Psycho Surgery, as it only costs 2 and heals everything in [its] battlegroup. However in the rare scenarios where you need to cast Telekenisis three times, being able to fix a monstrosity's crippled system is very useful.
• Telekenisis "places a model within 2"," which means you can use it to spin around enemy models or adjust a friendly model's facing. [Its] feat however "pushes", meaning you can't freely adjust facing. Keep this in mind with order of operations. Thexus usually wants to feat before [it] does anything else, such that [it] can correct positions with Telekenisis after pushing everything.
• Thexus' Spell Driver ability is not channeling and so gets around all the anti-channel abilities - even the "cannot channel while in melee" rule!

List Building Advice

Strategy

Thexus' main win condition is scenario. Operating Theater encourages a whole load of infantry (Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges and Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges), of which Thexus usually ends up taking 4-6 units of ten models each. Combined with the variety of solos and dominated units (using the Cephalyx Dominator) Thexus will pretty much always be able to put a full unit in every zone on the board. Telekenisis allows Thexus to pop models out of zones, often being able to score zones unexpectedly.

Thexus' secondary win condition is assassination. While it is usually inadvisable to make the core focus of your army the total annihilation of the enemy caster (This isn't Khador, christ), Thexus' feat plus regular access to Telekenisis, plus the ability to easily fuel up monstrosities with focus means you can often figure out a way to land one of your heavies in front of the enemy caster from turn 2. The question isn't really Thexus' ability to get models in contact with the enemy caster, but whether it can get enough models there without making himself vulnerable. Paradoxically, it can sometimes be better to use Telekenisis to spin around enemy models rather than set up your own, simply so they can't charge your models which are moving to engage.

Army

The only theme Thexus can be played in is Operating Theatre, which is a mostly drudge-focused theme and provides access to the entire range of Cephaylx models. The typical core for Thexus is two Wreckers and at least one unit each of Cephalyx Mind Slavers & Cephalyx Mind Benders.

• Wrecker - Thexus' go to beat stick, capable of crushing enemy 'jacks and devastating enemy units both.
• Croe's Cutthroats - TK sets up backstabs and Croe's bring some much needed firepower to the theme.
• Lady Aiyana & Master Holt - A much needed damage buff.
• Asphyxious the Sanctified - TK is amazing on this guy and he bring an cloudwall and a crucial ARM debuff.
• Princess Delores Graciela - Give Gaspy a Toro so she has a bodyguard and TK her around for extra threat range.

Other

Trivia

• Released in the digital-only faction book Forces of Warmachine - Cephalyx expansion (2014)
• Reprinted in the Warmachine: Reckoning expansion (2015)