Warmachine: Best of the Best – Cygnar Warcaster
Ranking the top three Cygnar Warcasters in Warmachine and Hordes.
Chalkboard here from Chalkboard War, continuing my series of articles on Warmachine and Hordes that examines the “Best of the Best” attributes across all models and factions. We’ll examine the top Feats, Spells, Abilities, Weapons, Stat Lines, Damage Grids, and anything else that appears on model entries in the game. All to give you a sense for which models are among the best on those categories.
This week, we venture into more complicated territory: ranking actual Warcasters and Warlocks within factions. Don’t worry, save your ire for the final article in this long series when I do Best of the Best: Factions! I’ll run thru these in Privateer Press order, so that means that Cygnar is first off the bat. This will be a tough one, as Cygnar has some really powerful Warcasters. This ranking considers all abilities as a package. It’s about the all-around best Warcasters in the faction.
So let’s get right to it! The following are my list of the top three Warcasters in Cygnar. And at the end is a bonus “Dishonorable Mention” for the caster who isn’t quite so effective within the faction.
Number Three: Artificer General Nemo and Storm Chaser Adept Caitlin Finch
Before the Storm Division theme list, I would have put Kara Sloan here. She is certainly a strong enough Warcaster to be in the conversation. However, too many players can tech against shooting assassinations, which limits her. Against what Nemo3 can bring, I’m not sure what tech can be done. I mean, some enterprising Trollbloods player could take nothing but Earthborns and Storm Trolls, and there’s always the mirror match to worry about, but other than that Nemo3 can really do some damage to all sorts of different forces.
He has a powerful Feat that synergizes well with a lot of good pieces in his army, cranking the damage of all sorts of attacks. But Nemo3 isn’t just his Feat, which is what puts him up among the top. Magnetic Field is a great buff to shut down lots of enemy shenanigans, while Lightning Shroud and Electrify have some solid applications for upping the ability of his models. And don’t forget he can project a lot of force personally if he needs to. Caitlin Finch provides even more utility, as his Focus goes a whole lot further with her around–giving double the allocation and free upkeeps. With the way Mark III points favor slightly larger battlegroups and the nature of his toolkit, Nemo3 is a great Warcaster within a faction full of very good Warcasters.
Number Two: Major Prime Victoria Haley
Often times what makes a Warcaster rise from good to truly great is not only what’s on their cards, but what they have in their faction. I think that’s the case with Haley3. She’s solid, to be sure. But it’s when she combines with some of the faction models that she ascends to top three. Trencher cloudwall is a thing in the game, and it’s hard to argue that anyone runs it better than Haley3.
Temporal Distortion is a great buff for her own unit, as she and any of her time walking selves get to absurd defense levels with the spell. But it truly shines when it’s being distributed to other nearby models as well. It helps the cloudwall become extremely difficult to damage. This means that the nastier threats in Cygnar can perch right behind and ready to strike with far more impunity than other Warcasters can manage with the same force. And even the Trenchers can get to safety thanks to the Tactical Supremacy spell.
But she’s not simply a one-trick pony with that tactic. Her time selves can grant her some really great spells, and Future Haley gives True Sight to the unit as well. Her Feat looks underwhelming but it can let her time selves really get some work done. Past Haley is more about raw damage, while Future Haley is about buffing her force. The level of tactical options that she can have as a caster is quite impressive, and it makes her land in the top of the heap for the faction in my opinion.
Number One: Major Victoria Haley
You knew who would be here, right? Before the change to Empowered Shot, Caine2 might have been close to this spot, but even he in his prior version I still don’t think he matched up with Haley2 (and now I think he’s just a smidge below Haley3 and Nemo3). Haley2 has everything. I mean, all she’s missing is a way to be a bit more defensively safe and she could be near-unstoppable.
Her Feat is fantastic, pure Defensive power for her force. With Telekinesis she can meddle with opponents or isolate and eliminate specific threats. Domination gives even more control against Warmachine factions. Force Field protects against many common assassination strategies. She even has threat extension for her models and a speed debuff for foes. With an amazing character jack bond with Thorn, and Future Sight for her battlegroup (a huge Focus efficiency boost), she’s simply one of the best Warcasters in the game–not to mention within Cygnar.
Dishonorable Mention: Constance Blaize, Knight of the Prophet
So I certainly don’t think Blaize is as bad as some people might suggest. And there are other Warcasters who might be close in conversation. And I don’t think it’s her animosity rule that limits her (really there are only 5 things prevented when fielding her, and none are particularly “must have”). Rather, I think she’s at the wrong point in the meta swing right now. For her to flourish, she needs a lot of infantry that can get work done. They also need to be a peculiar type, as you want middling ARM values for her Feat to function–you want a few to die, but you also want decent base ARM so it matters when they get a buff. And they likely benefit from being melee-oriented, as Crusader’s Call only gets value with charging models.
She likes Precursor Knights for this, but they have their limitations. There are many tricks to get through the increasing ARM, and Precursor Knights are dependent upon their mini-Feat turn to really make a damage dent. Even a little denial or spacing versus high ARM targets can wreck their day. With all of her lists looking much the same, she’s just not worth the time for many. Given the wealth of good choices out there why settle for a Warcaster who is merely okay? Especially if leveraging her means taking a number of things you’ll rarely field in non-Blaize games. She might be a fun puzzle for veteran players to try and sort out, but for most this is one Warcaster to skip.
~ Does this ranking fit your thoughts? Did we miss a critical attribute? Was a great model overlooked, or a powerful interaction missed? Is Number One really that good? Do you think the “Dishonorable Mention” is not so dishonorable after all? Let us know in the comments below!
To watch the worst of the worst hit the tabletop, check out Chalkboard’s Warmachine and Hordes blog at:
www.chalkboardwar.com
