{"id":989,"date":"2015-01-23T19:57:23","date_gmt":"2015-01-23T19:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/67272bb316.nxcli.io\/attackwing\/?p=989"},"modified":"2016-10-13T13:17:22","modified_gmt":"2016-10-13T17:17:22","slug":"dd-attack-wing-blind-boosters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wizkids.com\/attackwing\/2015\/01\/23\/dd-attack-wing-blind-boosters\/","title":{"rendered":"D&D Attack Wing Blind Boosters"},"content":{"rendered":"

This month\u2019s D&D Attack Wing<\/em> organized play is right around the corner, and there\u2019s going to be a big change from the first month\u2019s structure. Instead of a 120-point build, you\u2019ll be arriving at the event with a 90-point one, then given a blind booster containing one of five units that you\u2019ll use to assemble your final 30 points. In order to get the most advantage out of the blind units, you\u2019ll want to be sure to understand what they are, what they want to do, and how each can complement the army you\u2019re bringing.<\/p>\n

To prepare you, this week\u2019s post will look at three units from the blind booster: the ranger, druid, and fighter units, with a second part coming that will cover the mage and paladin!<\/p>\n

THE RANGER<\/p>\n

\"DnD_AWHRangerThe ranger occupies the same space as other sniper-style units like Eshaedra, the sun elf troops, and the dwarven ballista \u2014 namely, the ability to project force over a substantial area of the board. The most notable feature of Talon Everhale, though, is her ability to retain an unspent action token from round to round. This is unique thus far in D&D Attack Wing<\/em>, with the closest any other unit getting is being able to stack an extra action through use of the Leadership upgrade on a higher-level unique unit. You have no such hoops to go through with Talon.<\/p>\n

This is a very powerful ability and not one to be dismissed lightly. It\u2019s not just giving her the option to cash in on two tokens, which is already solid (think the Artillery Master upgrade for the ballista to see the strength of two Target tokens being cashed in). It also gives her the ability to use action tokens she might not otherwise be able to get, such as a Target action. Carrying one of those around with her will let her use it if a higher-level unit then moves into her substantial firing arc after she\u2019s already moved, or after undertaking a feint or turnabout.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a fan of positional play and range attacks, you\u2019ll be quite happy to open up the ranger.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For upgrades, she has a few solid options.<\/p>\n

Manyshot<\/strong> effectively gives her a selective area-of-effect attack (AOE), hitting up to three units or soldiers in her range. Here again you\u2019ll be happy to be carrying a second action token, to help boost a second attack roll.<\/p>\n

\"DnD_AW\u2013HRanger_Upgrades\"<\/p>\n

Precise Shot<\/strong> is a passive upgrade which lets you shoot through obstacles and interposing creatures without penalty. Further, it removes the bonus that defensive die targets will get when at Range 4, which is where Talon wants to be shooting from anyway. For 1 Legion Point (LP), I love this one.<\/p>\n

\"DnD_AW\u2013HRanger_Upgrades2\"<\/p>\n

Favored Enemy<\/strong> is another intriguing option whereby you can get an extra attack die for the duration of the game against a single specified target. This makes Talon\u2019s first and second turn more productive and important than most. Typically you begin to move your units into position and engage the enemy at the start of the game, but many units won\u2019t make much of the Concentrate token they\u2019ll frequently take at the start of the engagement. Talon can either stick a Concentrate token in her back pocket for later use, or fire off Favored Enemy, since it\u2019s effectively a permanent buff from that point forward.<\/p>\n

\"DnD_AW\u2013HRanger_Upgrades3\"<\/p>\n

Brilliant Energy Arrows<\/strong> gives you a choice typical of many of these upgrades: make a normal attack, or make a weaker one with a special effect. In this case, the \u201cweaker\u201d attack is just a regular one (potentially weaker because it costs her an action to trigger the upgrade instead of picking up a Concentrate or Target token). In exchange, her next attack bypasses armor. It\u2019s a one-shot use, but can be just the ticket when up against one of the larger dragons.<\/p>\n

\"DnD_AW\u2013HRanger_Upgrades4\"<\/p>\n

Silence<\/strong> is what you might call a \u201csideboard option,\u201d something very good against some builds and completely useless against others. Having an AOE dead magic zone can be situationally effective, but there may be better uses for her divine upgrade slot that will be consistently better. Finally, Darkleaf is Talon\u2019s named equipment upgrade, a set of enchanted leather armor. In addition to granting an Armor value of 1, it lets Talon reroll one of her defense dice when attacked by another unit\u2019s primary weapon.<\/p>\n

\"DnD_AW\u2013HRanger_Upgrades5\"<\/p>\n

For OP2, opening Talon I\u2019d probably look to kit her out with Favored Enemy, Precise Shot, and Brilliant Energy Arrows to make 30 LP. I like Favored Enemy, but it\u2019s not as widely applicable since it only affects one of your opponent\u2019s units.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE DRUID<\/p>\n

\"DnD_AW-WoodElfDruid_Creatures\"Continuing with our sylvan subtheme, we next come to the shape-changing druid. Unlike the offensive-minded ranger with a wicked, long-range bow, the druid takes on a more survivalist-inspired utility role. The stats bear this out \u2014 amongst the five different blind booster units, Dragonfly is tied for highest agility (alongside the ranger) and ranks only behind Rezmir, the half-dragon fighter, for health. Take note too of Dragonfly\u2019s special ability, which kicks in on the defense, rerolling 1 blank result. Clearly, this is a unit meant for sticking around during the course of battle. Given the druid\u2019s poor primary weapon value (PWV) \u2014 the only other unit to have both the named and<\/em> the generic in the lower half of the PWV standings is a mage \u2014 that\u2019s a clear sign that its focus lies elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Indeed, within Dragonfly lies one of the game\u2019s first true combos. Sure, you could argue that the \u201cchaser\u201d or \u201ckicker\u201d effects most dragons have in tandem with a breath weapon are combinations (i.e. Searing Blaze), but this is the first time both halves of a combo are valid standalone options that happen to synergize when used in tandem.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m talking, of course, about the Control Weather\/Call Lightning two-turn pile-on. Control Weather<\/strong> is a divine upgrade that lasts for two turns and drags anything in its effect radius to the ground. This is situationally useful on its own, helpful if you are up against a lot of flying creatures or are ground-unit heavy. Not to be overlooked is the fact that the creature can\u2019t take flight again until it has left the affected area: in most cases this means it will be using an inferior and less-maneuverable dial. In a game where positioning is critical, being able to better predict your opponent\u2019s moves can put you in a great position to strike, making Control Weather a useful debuff.<\/p>\n

\"DnD_AW\u2013WoodElfDruid_Upgrades4\"<\/p>\n

Call Lightning<\/strong>, on the other hand, is a straight damage spell in the vein of fireball. A 3-dice, armor-penetrating burst attack is already worth the arcane slot, but when the Burst token for it is placed within the area of effect of Control Weather, that electric blast gets a 33% supercharge in the form of an extra attack die. So in short, drag the dragon to the ground one turn, then light it up like Christmas the next. Against a 1-Agility beastie like Balagos or Eshaedra, that translates into a sweet spot of 1-2 hits 63% of the time, with a further 18% chance of landing a third.<\/p>\n

\"DnD_AW\u2013WoodElfDruid_Upgrades3\"<\/p>\n

The druid isn\u2019t just disruptive to forces in the air, either. The Entangle<\/strong> spell drops a zone onto the battlefield that punishes ground-based forces for passing through it by restricting their movement to 1. Not only that, but they roll 1 less attack and defense die in combat as well. Although we start to enter the world of best-case-scenario mentality here, the idea of a pair of druids locking down the battlefield with Control Weather and Entangle is not an unattractive prospect. Whether or not that\u2019s an optimal use of 41 Legion Points, though, remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

\"DnD_AW\u2013WoodElfDruid_Upgrades5\"<\/p>\n

The druid\u2019s remaining upgrades are self-buffs. Barkskin<\/strong> offers the prospect of an additional point of armor for a limited amount of time, but with an intriguing twist. At the end of the spell\u2019s duration, you must remove 1 armor token \u2014 but it does not specify that the removed token must be the one you added when you cast the spell. Why is this relevant?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well, let\u2019s say you\u2019re playing Eshaedra, and you get rocked by a boulder flung by Jarl Horn so hard that you draw the Shattered critical hit and must flip one of your armor tokens over to the damaged side. Barkskin effectively allows you to \u201cheal\u201d this damage, because after Barkskin runs out, you simply choose the damaged armor token to be the one discarded. Voil\u00e0, back up to full armor!<\/p>\n

In Eshaedra\u2019s case, this upgrade would cost a whopping 6 LP, and if all it did was heal damaged armor it would be a waste of LP. However, the option to add another point of armor can be useful when you\u2019re getting ready to fly into the teeth of the enemy and are hoping to come out the other side.<\/p>\n

\"DnD_AW\u2013WoodElfDruid_Upgrades6\"<\/p>\n

Staff of the Woodlands<\/strong> gives the game another staff option for casters, alongside Nymmestra\u2019s Silver Staff. Both the red wizard and druid units come with one, and the druid\u2019s buffs your melee attack while giving you the option to prolong the duration of any spell you cast. Although the PWV buff doesn\u2019t seem all that effective on a unit that already has one of the worst PWVs of the set, it ties in nicely with the druid\u2019s final upgrade, Bear Form<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"DnD_AW\u2013WoodElfDruid_Upgrades2\"\u00a0 \"DnD_AW\u2013WoodElfDruid_Upgrades6\"<\/center>If the default wood elf form of the druid is the utility caster, Bear Form gives it a tanking mode. It doubles the effective range of the druid\u2019s melee attack from a feeble 1 to an average 2, and adds two more attack dice to melee (giving you a total of 4, or 5 if you\u2019ve equipped the Staff). Finally, you\u2019re able to Charge, which means you\u2019ll now be rolling a dragon\u2019s amount of attack dice in battle. That\u2019s some bear!<\/p>\n

On the downside, your spell and equipment upgrades are considered disabled, further indicating the proper role of Bear Form is for channeling wild fury and going primal. Still, it opens up interesting options to the one-man combo machine. Yank \u2018em from the skies, go Bear Form and Charge!<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking to go 30 points off of Dragonfly the Grey, that gives you an extra 7 LP for upgrades. That\u2019s just enough to favor one of the two aspects of the druid over the other. Want to rely on some extra muscle on the battlefield? Grab Bear Form (3) and Staff of the Woodlands (4). If you\u2019d rather play a more controlling option, Control Weather (3) and Call Lightning (4) fit the bill. As useful as Entangle can be, though, there\u2019s just too many all-flying builds out there to make the upside worth the risk.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE HALF-BLACK DRAGON FIGHTER<\/p>\n

\"DnD_AW\u2013DnD_AW\u2013HalfBlkD\"It\u2019s only fitting for Rezmir<\/strong>, one of the Hoard of the Dragon Queen\u2019s main villains, to sit atop the stat charts for the blind booster minis. While she shares top honors with a PWV of 3, she is without peer at 5 Health \u2014 as sturdy as Eshaedra! The generic dragon cultist loses 1 point of Health, making it \u201conly\u201d as solid as Galadaeros. In addition, Rezmir gets to carry 2 equipment and 2 heroic upgrades, and she can Target, Dodge, and even Charge. Finally, Rezmir is more resilient to exhaustion than most, being able to shake Exhaustion tokens off even on a white maneuver.<\/p>\n

All this value for 23 LP must surely carry some downside, and it does, in the absence of a ranged attack. Rezmir carries a greatsword and nothing more, though as we\u2019ll see she is not without recourse against enemies too cowardly to land and fight her one-on-one.<\/p>\n

There are two ways in which Rezmir can target airborne enemies. The first is with her breath weapon, minor acid breath. This is simply a weaker form of the dragon breath we\u2019ve already seen, doing less dice (2) at a shorter range (3). Regardless of armor penetration, a 2-dice attack is fairly weak, but it is the most reliable way for Rezmir to impact what\u2019s happening above her head. The other way is a bit stronger, but she has to jump through a hoop to get it off. Indeed, it\u2019s actually more up to your opponent than you!<\/p>\n

Hellish Rebuke<\/strong> is an arcane upgrade that turns Rezmir into something of a hedgehog, letting her counterstrike an opponent after it\u2019s damaged her \u2014 provided that it\u2019s in her forward arc. Not only does it also penetrate armor with a 3-dice attack, but it also doesn\u2019t count as her attack for the round. There\u2019s no altitude criteria on it either, so if the unit that triggers Hellish Rebuke is flying, it\u2019s still a valid target. That\u2019s useful, but it still leaves the decision whether or not to take the attack up to the opponent rather than you… though I imagine more than a few games will go to time with a flying opponent weaving around Rezmir, desperately trying to find a chance to attack her from flank or back to avoid the free attack.<\/p>\n

\"DnD_AW\u2013Half-BlackD_Upgrades6\"<\/p>\n

Now for the next hoop. Did you notice that Hellish Rebuke was an arcane upgrade, a slot Rezmir doesn\u2019t have? In order to allow Rezmir to carry a spell, she needs to be equipped with Hazirawn<\/strong>, her custom two-handed weapon (though any other evil unit with the right upgrade slot can pick it up for almost double the LP cost). In addition to a free arcane upgrade, Hazirawn grants its wielder an additional attack die for her primary weapon melee attacks. You\u2019ll be glad for the extra die when using her Cleave<\/strong> upgrade, which lets her make a primary weapon melee strike against every creature within range in your forward arc.<\/p>\n

\"DnD_AW\u2013Half-BlackD_Upgrades4\"\u00a0\u00a0 \"DnD_AW\u2013Half-BlackD_Upgrades2\"<\/center>Rezmir\u2019s reputation as a brawler is certainly done no harm by the Improved Overrun<\/strong> upgrade. This gives her the ability to move through other creatures on the ground without having to bother with an overrun check. Better still, each time she passes completely through a creature, she gets to make a 1-die attack that opponents don\u2019t get to roll defense dice against. Finally, she comes equipped with a Netherese Relic<\/strong>, an evil artifact that she can use to disable an upgrade on an enemy creature once per battle.<\/p>\n

\"DnD_AW\u2013Half-BlackD_Upgrades3\"\u00a0\u00a0 \"DnD_AW\u2013Half-BlackD_Upgrades5\"<\/center>Finding a 30-point build for Rezmir is a little trickier. Cleave is very good, but hindered by its ability to only impact ground creatures. Minor Acid Breath<\/strong> is stingy with the attack dice, but a useful bit of range\/AOE. Pair those with Netherese Relic or Improved Overrun, and you\u2019ve got your 30. It\u2019s hard to shake the feeling, though, that the best soak of the remaining LP might be Hazirawn with Hellish Rebuke.<\/p>\n

\"DnD_AW\u2013Half-BlackD_Upgrades\"<\/p>\n

So if you find yourself opening one of these three, you might now have a better idea of how to integrate them into your army to improve your chances of success. Since you can\u2019t predict in advance which unit you\u2019ll get, being aware of their strengths and weaknesses will be a considerable advantage as you adapt on the fly!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>

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