Runeshapers, What are they good for?

[Jerry C. Richwine]

Prove me wrong, but I haven't had much luck with the runeshapers unit. I just do not even see their use in their abilities. Is there some sort of synergy with other units or a caster I am not seeing?

[Mr. Mayhem]

Most will tell you that they shine in Doomshaper1's themed force (which is true), though they can stand on their own merits outside of that. It might help to think of Rock Hammer as a ranged attack; range 8, pow 14, aoe 3, with crit knockdown at "RAT" 7 would be considered a great gun by most. It won't take apart most heavies, but can: take chunks out of all but the toughest lights and multi-wound infantry; eliminate high DEF/stealth, low ARM troopers with blasts; take out most single-would infantry and average solos. Unlike a ranged attack however, it can be fired while in combat and not even necessarily at the models engaging them (and if close enough can auto-hit via minimum distance deviations, preferably on squishy models). Obviously getting the crit is great, but even if they do it while engaged and thus caught in the blast, at dice -8 (let's be honest, -10), they're unlikely to suffer blast damage and needn't fear the crit due to being Steady, which is also great when making tough rolls. Pathfinder w/o assistance is never a bad thing in this game and even though their melee attack is no great shakes, the Force Lock they gain when within Janissa's CMD can be game changing. Also, most 2 pt solos have 5 health while these only cost 1.3 (or only 1 a piece with Doomshapers theme force) and will/should generally be a respectable ARM 17. Then there's Tremor. Bombers, Slag Trolls, both Madraks and everything else that shoots multiple times or wants a crit would rather shoot at something they don't need to boost on (or in the case of Madrak, are much more likely to crit on). Similarly, Burrowers and Scattergunners then don't have to worry about getting back strikes or aiming to hit with them ho-hum RATs. Additionally, since they can do it after charging you can knockdown stuff you that you'd like to shoot, but would normally be too hard to hit due to it being entrenched in melee. If the enemy has no way to stand up their knocked down warrior models, then it can be worth sacrificing some Runeshapers to charge in and Tremor to slow the offending unit down. If for some reason they can't be charged (Polarity Shield, Silverline Stormdudes, Rask's feat, Ret battle engine, Kaelyssa's feat, etc.) you can run one Runeshaper right in front of them and have the other two in the unit charge it with Tremor. While there are a number of spells or abilities that can enhance them (Calandra's fate blessed rerolls, Jarl/Borka to speed them up, either of the Grims' debuffs, beast lore from Pendrake), one of the best things about them is that they work quite well without needing much support, which in a support heavy faction like Trollbloods are a rare commodity. Sure, Janissa providing Force Lock is great and, like literally every thing else in the faction, you'd like them affected by the Kriel Stone, but they don't require even those things to work well. Hope that helps.

[bubbles15]

Much obliged for the response - it's helpful seeing the unit.

However it would be much easier to read if it were split into paragraphs by unit or by spell use/buff. As it is, disseminating the gist is a bit tricky.

[Mr. Mayhem]

I suppose if one wanted a TLDR it would just be:

- Rock Hammer's good
- Tremor is good
- Force Lock is good
- Steady is good
- their point cost is good

Doesn't really capture the how and why though.

[odinsgrandson]

Honestly, I find that they are fantastic to break up the unit and play them as RPG characters. Or paint them for Competition. They are really stellar minis.

I haven't found them to be particularly impressive in play (although it has been a long time, so there is probably a new combination that works for them).