Ruin: Initial Impressions and Theory

By now, everyone should have had a chance to digest the rules for Ruin, Khador's newest character warjack. It's rules were spoiled in NQ #59 which was available digitally last week (and what fueled this post) and in print this week. And if you didn't read either of those, there's also War Room and the various spoiler threads around.

So now that we have the rules for Ruin in hand, how does it stack up to expectations? Where will it be used/useful? Is it another niche model, a new auto-include, or something in between? Join me after the break for my thoughts.

Initial Thoughts
Like many Khador players, I've been guessing at rules for Ruin ever since the concept art showed up. A lot of those guesses ended up being pretty close, and some were always going to be vague (soul collection could be a few different mechanics, for instance). Add in some SmogCon spoilers, and most of Ruin's rules weren't surprising.

A number of things were though:

1) Its a little, dumb thing, but I totally didn't think about it's open fist being P+S 16. Of course it would be, since it's a tweaked Kodiak (poor, poor Kodiaks), but I always assumed it'd be P+S 15. Having an off-hand that's as strong as some heavy's main weapons (granted, not many of the "good" heavies) is neat.

2) MAT 8. I would have bet cold hard cash on MAT 7, so I was stunned to read that Ruin punched through that barrier.

3) Abomination. This is another semi-"duh" moment. Of course the thing covered in grisly trophies and probably emanating evil energy forces some sort of CMD check. Terror or Abomination makes perfect sense, and Abomination gives it a bit of a bonus and drawback all at once.

4) Dispel on the mace. I had zero hopes about the mace having any rules apart from Reach and possibly being Magical. Never in a million years would I have thought it would have something as amazing as Dispel.

I was pretty happy with the version of Ruin I had in my head that was MAT 7 with a Reach, possibly Magical Mace. The reality of Ruin's rules totally blows that model out of the water, and frankly shattered my expectations of what PP would be willing to do with a Khador character heavy.

Ruin makes a very strong case for being the best character warjack in Khador (which pretty much makes it the best warjack in Khador). I was hoping for it to be around as good as Beast-09, and it damn sure is (if not better, but that's debatable and not really meaningful anyways).

General Applications
In general, Ruin should probably be the "go-to" melee warjack unless you have a very good reason not to do so. I think it almost totally replaces the Spriggan for it's cost - the Spriggan still has some niche value, but any list that brought it previously because it was Khador's only non-Beast-09 Reach heavy now has a much scarier option.

There are a few considerations to using Ruin. First: Abomination is as much a drawback as it is a benefit. Ruin may not be a great choice for lists that are using significant chunks of non-Fearless, non-Standard bearing infantry (most notably Nyss and Kayazy). You can play around Abomination (especially since it's probably just Ruin with Abomination in your list) but it's still something to keep in mind.

Abomination also means that Repairing Ruin is always going to be a dicey prospect: the only time Mechaniks are likely to be Fearless is under Irusk1's feat, so they're going to have to pass a CMD test to get close enough to Repair Ruin. You can bolster that with high CMD commanders (either Irusk, the Iron Fang Kovnik) but even CMD 10 carries a not insignificant chance of failure. I don't think this "Mechanik conundrum" is a particularly big deal, but it is worth noting.

Second: Ruin is going to have a big target on it's head. If you've used Beast-09 against any opponent familiar with what it can do then you know how much hate a powerful melee warjack can draw. Ruin is likely to attract plenty of boostable ranged attacks, long range charges, debuffs, control effects, etc. Orgoth Seal helps to mitigate some of those a bit, but for the most part Ruin is going to have to deal with the same issues that all Khador heavies face (getting to the fight, though at least it has Reach) with the added benefit of your opponent really not wanting that to happen.

Finally: Ruin still has some of the issues that Khador warjacks normally run into - low SPD, general inefficiency of Focus use, no Pathfinder, susceptibility to early damage/control. For as great as it is, Ruin is still going to need the same level of babysitting you normally attribute to Khador heavies. The upside is that Ruin has some things built-in to alleviate those issues (especially with the Butchers) and the payoff for delivering it successfully is likely high.

None of this is new to Khador players, in one way or another (Khador heavies are always a resource drain, Abomination has been in the faction for awhile, etc,) but I think it's worth reiterating to reinforce that while Ruin is an absolutely fantastic Khador character warjack, it's still a Khador warjack.

All that said, Ruin is beefy enough that you can probably very comfortably drop it into any list as your "primary" heavy and have it do quite well with a little support/coverage/protection. It's just that good to begin with, and almost all of Khador's 'casters offer one or more buffs for it (which is all it needs to really shine).

Specific Applications:
Now lets run down the list of Khador 'casters and what they can do to help tune Ruin up:

 - Sorscha1: Boundless Charge is all Ruin needs (threat extension, free charge, and Pathfinder), so Sorscha1 starts off in a great spot. Fog of War can help mitigate some shooting/magic on the way in, and her feat/Freezing Grip can either help keep threats off of Ruin, or set up some serious killing runs.

 - Sorscha2: Still has Boundless Charge, which is all you need to be a great Ruin pairing. There's also some nice synergy with her feat, insofar as Sorscha2 really wants to get rid of ARM buffs if possible to let her feat really shine. Ruin can do that while also dumping out tons of damage to a previously buffed target.

 - Vlad1: Boundless Charge? Check. Feat that doubles SPD and gives free charges? Check. Signs and Portents for preposterous accuracy and higher average damage? Check. Vlad1 stands out as being a particularly amazing Ruin 'caster.

 - Vlad2: Vlad2 isn't much for warjacks, but even he can make Ruin sing with Assail (note: Ruin singing would probably sound horrifying). Ruin also brings some bizarro-synergy here by being able to potentially fuel itself during it's activation with souls, so Vlad2 barely needs to give it Focus while still enjoying potentially excellent output against infantry.

 - Vlad3: Infernal Machine most importantly gives out +2 SPD (which is key) and +2 MAT (which is obscene), so all he's missing is a free charge. Vlad3's feat has a ton of potential with Ruin - the Side Steps allow it to really dig into a unit, and then Sprint can put it far enough way from retaliation to stay safe (especially if you can run something to intervene). Wind Wall can also help protect Ruin on the approach.

 - Irusk1: Superiority is an excellent set of buffs for Ruin, and Inhospitable Ground can be a fantastic way to protect Ruin after it commits in some match ups. Possibly still on the low end of the scale for "Ruin desire", since Irusk1's lists tend to focus on infantry, leaving Ruin mostly hanging out until late game.

 - Irusk2: Energizer is an expensive threat range extender, but an effective one. Or potentially a way to shuffle Ruin back a bit after it charges in and beats up part of an infantry unit (which can combo with the feat to make it very hard for the rest of the unit to meaningfully react). Still on the lower end of the "Ruin desire" scale.

 - Butcher1: All of the Butchers are going to be home runs with Ruin, just based on the Affinity (which gives you the few things that may be lacking for Ruin). Butcher1 probably has the fewest shenanigans of all the Butchers with Ruin, but may also want him the most: Ruin is the only warjack with Butcher1 that has an 11" threat range. While that isn't super impressive, its a big deal for Butcher's typically slow battlegroup.

Butcher1's Ruin will also absolutely kill anything it gets to: Fury for +3 melee damage, Boundless Charge for free charges, Full Throttle potentially for more free charges and boosted attack rolls (vs. very high DEF), potentially an extra damage die on all attacks. and Dispel to remove any defensive buffs your opponent may have thought would save them. Yikes.

 - Butcher2: Butcher2 has fantastic synergy with Ruin, thanks in large part to the Affinity. Ruin relieves some of the Focus pressure on Butcher2 by essentially saving him 2 Focus any turn it wants to charge in, which in turn frees up Focus for Fury, Ravager, Boundless Charge somewhere else, another warjack, or even boosted Blunderbuss shots for Conferred Rage.

Speaking of Conferred Rage, if you can get it, that rule makes Butcher2's Ruin extremely scary: 13" charge threat range, MAT 10, charging for free with Pathfinder. Potentially with Fury on it, or Ravager for extra insurance against clumped up infantry. And you can leverage Rage tokens on Butcher2's feat turn to push Ruin even further, which can (and probably will) lead to some unexpected kills.

 - Butcher3: Unlike the other two Butchers, Butcher3 is more interested in what Ruin can do for him, than what he can do for Ruin. Ruin with Butcher3 can run almost completely autonomously: Boundless Charge allows it to charge further than it runs, so it doesn't require any Focus in the early game. Likewise, Ruin can potentially go nuts in an infantry unit all on it's own with little or zero initial Focus investment, which allows Butcher3 to continue camping if necessary. And if Ruin ends up in a good spot, a MAT 8, P+S 18 warjack (with potentially Silence of Death) can easily end games all on it's own, saving Butcher3 from having to risk committing (while also giving your opponent another threat vector to worry about).

 - Zerkova1: Zerkova1 is on the lower end of 'casters that can do cool things with Ruin. Banishing Ward is nice but redundant, though you could take multiple warjacks and have one that can't be targeted by spells, and one that is resistant to it. Ruin is a fine Watcher target but not exceptional (it's hard to top the Grolar in that regard), and it isn't fast enough to be a particularly good Force Blast target. Ruin is still an excellent beater with Zerkova1, but nothing special.

 - Old Witch: Similar to Zerkova1, she doesn't offer Ruin a lot that is remarkable. Augury can let Ruin charge through forests (with Weald Secrets) and clouds, but she does that for all her warjacks. Her feat can provide some protection against melee threats, and Murder of Crows can help deliver Ruin, but again, she can do that with any non-Huge warjack. Ruin sort of helps her out by bringing Dispel to get around ARM buffs and some potential efficiency with it's soul use, but for the most part it feels like Old Witch doesn't do a lot for it.

 - Karchev: Reach and MAT 8 make Ruin a solid candidate for slingshotting, and it's soul usage allows it to do a better job vs. infantry than most Khador heavies, which gives Karchev's battlegroup some desperately needed versatility. There is also the potential of having a completely nuts turn with Unearthly Rage and soul usage, but I think that's going to be about as common as a winning the lottery. Ruin is another excellent melee warjack for Karchev to consider, but most of the best Karchev tech right now (for what that's worth) right now is more focused on using Grolars to all but ensure success against melee targets. Ruin also carries some extra risk with Karchev because you're more likely to be running support models near by (Mechaniks especially) that risk being panicked by Ruin's majesty.

 - Strakov: Strakov seems to have a lot of potential with Ruin. Ruin's Soul Taker ability allows it to potentially make use of Overrun without a big hit to it's ability to make attacks and boost (assuming it's triggering on models with souls), MAT 10 is a great starting point for attacking most 'casters, and Dispel gets around any problematic upkeeps that may be in the way. Dispel in general is a very nice thing for Strakov to have access to, as he sometimes struggles to overcome defensive buffs with his army, so he often wants Eiryss2 (which in turns hurts his ability to make it into diverse list sets).

 - Harkevich: For as much as some players fixate on the ranged aspect of Harkevich's battlegroup, he actually does a lot more for their melee capabilities (essentially having most of a passive Boundless Charge effect up all game). Ruin can make great use out of both of those benefits, and can also potentially capitalize on the feat by clearing out a chunk of models, survive the reprisal, and then finishing off the rest. While I wouldn't take Ruin away from one of the Vlads or Butchers (or even Strakov) to put it on Harkevich, that also doesn't seem like a terrible place to run it.

And special mention must go to:

 - Malakov: The "most fun to theorycraft but hard to fit into lists" junior warcaster is, not surprisingly, capable of running a very scary Ruin. Redline gives Ruin two buffs it wants (+2 SPD and free charges) and one that it really appreciates (+2 STR). Ruin meanwhile has an extremely good starting MAT, so Malakov's inability to buff that isn't an issue. All on it's own, that's a fairly potent module, and it only gets better when you start comboing that with what other 'casters can bring to the table.

Some combos worth noting:

 - Vlad1: Malakov's Ruin can get Boundless Charge and Signs & Portents with this set up, which seems extremely potent.

 - Vlad3: Vlad3's feat works on all warjacks (not just the ones in his battlegroup) so you can put Ruin on Malakov (which also frees up plenty of Focus for Vlad3) and still get all the benefits of the feat. Plus that opens up the possibility of having two MAT 8 (or higher, depending on what you put Vlad3's Infernal Machine on) warjacks bouncing and sprinting around on feat turn.

 - Strakov: Similar to Vlad3, you don't need Ruin in Strakov's battlegroup to benefit from his feat. Putting it on Malakov removes Overrun shenanigans, but it can result in a powerful piece trade starting from very far away (15" threat with Redline and Strakov's feat). Also like Vlad3, this also opens up the possibility of running a warjack on Strakov and having two warjacks bulleting off on feat turn.

 - Sorscha2: She can Boundless Charge Malakov's Ruin, giving it an excellent threat range. +2 STR combined with Dispel and Sorscha2's feat will result in some very, very dead models. With zero outside buffs, Ruin in that scenario does enough damage with just the mace attacks (on average) to one round a Conquest.

Closing Thoughts
Ruin is fantastic. By any metric, it is a powerful melee warjack that has a touch of flexibility baked into it's rules, all for a very aggressive point cost. I can't imagine anyone reading that model's rules and not getting excited. As I just went over, there are only a few 'casters that won't make excellent use of Ruin's kit, and even those that aren't "great" would still appreciate having Ruin around.

Ruin is easily the best warjack Khador has received in Mk. 2 and is arguably the best warjack ever released for the faction. It is also probably one of the highest quality releases Khador has received in Mk 2, only probably behind Butcher3, which is delicious and funny because the two combo very well together. I'm looking forward to trying out Jamie Perkins' list (copied here) with the easy swap of taking the Spriggan out for Ruin (and maybe swapping out Ragman for Gorman, since I like Ragman so much in my other list).

I'm trying to stick with Convergence for the next month or two in order to get some use out of those models, but releases like Ruin are making it very difficult. I'm itching to try that Butcher3 list out, and if I get enough games in between now and when Ruin releases I'll almost certainly proxy Ruin in a few times to do just that. And I'll definitely be running that list as much as I can after Ruin finally releases in May.

Between Ruin releasing in May and Reckoning (with all it's seeming myriad goodies) probably coming out in June (if not then, almost certainly July), it's looking like an amazing summer for Khador.