Warmachine: Warcaster Lukas Di Morray Brings the Juice
Aurum Legate Lukas Di Morray uses the juice to pump up his power…but at what cost?!?! We’re taking a look at the newest Crucible Guard Warcaster!
His feat may only be a single sentence, but don’t let that fool you, there’s a lot of depth to this caster. Take a look at the cards for Lukas Di Morray.
5, 8…17 Focus!
While Lukas may only have a printed Focus stat of 5, the majority of the time he’ll be getting 3 juice counters a turn bringing him to a hefty Focus 8. This is especially true during the early game as Lukas is saving up juice tokens to fuel his feat. Be careful though, at the end of every activation Lukas takes 1 damage for each juice token he has, so if he waits too long he might overdose before he gets a chance to Feat.
In most games your plan will be to Feat turn 2 or 3. Assuming Lukas takes the maximum amount of juice, a turn 2 Feat will give him 14 focus; 5 base, plus 3 for taking juice that turn and another 6 for the total juice tokens he has. This also means he will be at a total of 9 damage taken by the end of the turn(3 first turn, 6 second turn).
14 focus is great, but you know what’s better? 17 focus! If Lukas waits until turn 3 he can get 17 focus on feat turn. 5 base, 3 from juice tokens that turn and 9 total juice tokens adds up to a stack of focus that rivals Haley3. Those of you doing the math have figured out the problem though, at the end of turn 3 he will have taken 18 damage total…which is exactly enough to kill him.
But at What Cost?
17 Focus is great, but losing turn 3 isn’t a solid plan. Therefore Lukas is going to need a way to stay in the game. Luckily Lukas has access to Doctor Alejandro Mosby to provide d3+2 healing every turn. However Mosby is a merc command attachment, so you can’t just bring him alone. You’ll need to choose a merc unit to bring with the doctor, one that doesn’t need to be on the front lines as Mosby will be hanging out with Lukas all game.
Attaching Mosby to Lynus and Edrea is definitely worth considering. This brings a 2nd healer along as Lynus can use First Aid to heal d3 damage each turn. With Mosby and Lynus combined Lukas can heal for an average of 6 damage per turn.
Another solid option is a ranged unit like Thorn Gun Mages. They can easily stay within command of Mosby and use their guns picking off nearby enemies. The Black Penny shot type is nice to clear off any jamming enemies and the Incendiary shot causes fire damage, which combos nicely with other elements of the Faction.
Game Plan
With all that focus and a spell like Force Hammer, Lukas has a pretty solid spell assassination threat. Take 1 or 2 Liberators and you’ll be able to set up Force Hammer vectors all over the board, especially given the experimental arc node Liberators have, allowing them to channel while engaged. If Lukas can knock down a caster by slamming something into them with Force Hammer, he can follow up with Disintegration to lower their armor. Crucible Guard has a plethora of gun options, so at that point the rest of the army should be able to finish the caster off.
But Lukas is definitely more than just an assassination caster, his spell list checks a lot of the boxes for tools you might typically be looking for.
- Burning Ash provides a cloud wall to cover his forces as they advance
- Mirage brings threat extension
- Iron Flesh makes a unit more survivable
- Disintegration is a great debuff and removes from play in a pinch
The only tool Lukas doesn’t bring is a hit buff. So you’ll need to plan for that during list construction.
A Way Out
We’ve all likely been there at some point. You’re up on attrition/scenario and feel in control of the game. Then your opponent asks the dreaded question, “What’s your casters defense and armor?”
No matter what caster you’re playing it’s important to keep them safe from the last ditch assassination attempts, but Lukas is especially vulnerable to this because he is constantly hurting himself. It won’t be uncommon for Lukas to be at half health or less, so make sure to keep him safe. Even when camping focus if your opponent has 1 or 2 decent pow attacks they might be able to sneak enough damage through to end the game.
Lukas is a well rounded caster that slightly favors infantry over warjacks, but will probably be making some pretty balanced lists using a mix of both. He’s almost always going to be seen in the Magnum Opus theme, as that is currently the only way he can get access to healing.
What do you think of Lukas Di Morray? Do you have any good list ideas you want to try?
