So while Shas lost some of their more premium jank such as Fatality 2, decoy daisy-chain Cadmus, the Shasvastii rule in general. We did gain 2 (3) new friends along the way, I haven't seen much or any mention on them and honestly they seem a little strange to me and would like some other peoples opinions on them in both Shas sectorial and CA vanilla. First we got the new dire foe, Sargosh, who is just a beefier Jayth with a nifty gun. at 1 point less than the most expensive Jayth profile he brings a multi-rifle with a light shotgun (left his flamer in code one?), D-charges (representing his drill arm perhaps?), and +1 arm & cc. He's also the only Jayth left with shock immunity (unless that's a mistake) and currently the only way to make the haris which is a hefty tax. From what I've seen most people aren't fans of the Jayths in general, they're a strange, pricey, and squishy unit in the sectorial but have proven to at least be a fun one so I feel he'll be more of a fluffy take if you just wanna run a team of Swole bug-snake-men. Next we got an interesting one in Agent Dukash (Presumably Shasvastii Hellboy from the art shown in the trailer), who personally I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around. for roughly 40 points your getting a spicy mulit-rifle who's alergic to smg's and is above average in hand catching. BTS 3 bioimmunity with memetism and nwi makes him rather resilient and +3 dodge helps as well. Overall he seems like a decent close range brawler who can push a button, and the +2 dmg ap/viral makes him good against the sudden influx of HI but I'm not entirely sold, I feel like I'd rather just shell out the extra points for Sheskiin who'll do the job much cleaner (or messier depending which side of the table your on). I plan on testing him out, especially in the various links he can join but I'd like to see some other takes and interpretations of his use. And finally I guess Oktavia Grindelwald deserves a mention, who is totally not a alien or something. She's 4 points cheaper than her noctifier missile buddy with an extra burst, sixth sense, and no TO, but still dogged. She looks cool so I'll try her anyways but I guess 2 active missile shots are still nice to yeet around.
Dukash looks like a decent poor-man's Sheskin if you're not wanting to put as many eggs in one basket (or just don't feel comfortable investing in that level of degeneracy) . Mimetism can also make him a better gunfighter in cover, and he's also a specialist. He's a solid all rounder with nothing to really complain about. When your biggest complaint is that you're not Sheskin, you're still quite good. Oktavia looks alright, but I'll probably still take a Noctifier before her every time in both Shas and vanilla. Sargosh depresses me, because he just looks so cool and is so disappointing. He's got an absolutely monstrous CC capability, but no way to really make use of it. It'd be really great if his tunneling background and ENORMOUS GOD DAMNED DRILL ARM could be used to net him some form of infiltration, parachutist, or even strategic deployment (this would actually be amazing for Jayths in a haris as a whole). As it stands, he's a pile of cool toys without a worthwhile way to make them work on top of an almost 40 point price tag for one wound. At that cost for one wound, you really need to be able to deliver, and I really doubt Sargosh can.
I’m not sad to see the Cadmus airdrop go; that was intentional, but still way out of band for AD abilities. The new rule still looks perfectly reasonable. I was of the opinion that the math wasn’t too out of line for Sheskiin, but it definitely made people feel bad to be on the receiving end. That said, I don’t believe I ever rolled a 1 for her BS in a single game I played with her. But what do you mean about losing the Shasvastii rule in general? That one is pretty much the same as it’s always been by my reading.
I wish they kept some sort of improved reliability or other functionality to make up for the loss. The inability to even walk them on hurts them a lot, and I really can't see myself using them much in N4 as they are now. They're not awful, but have you seen the other AD options we have now?
I admit I haven’t looked at CA AD that much yet, but if you’re playing SEF, the Cadmus is your only choice. Given that they don’t have Parachutist and the removal of dispersion, a boost to PH might be nice. But their old rule that allowed them to disperse 16” and then daisy chain back to the initial spot was just silly.
There's definately still call to take an E-Drone and use it to help them land, before swapping its supportware to a M-Drone, Q-Drone or T-Drone for the rest of the battle. Re: the new characters.... not sure on Dukash yet, but Sargosh is legit pretty good particularly in light of the nerf the red fury jayth took (who was previously a fixture in my lists), and as he "counts as a jayth", you can form a pretty funky little haris team with him at the core... Sargosh, Victor and Hasht anyone?
Regarding Sargosh: his main advantages over regular Jayths are his BS weapons, Number 2, and Stealth. If I'll have an idea how to utilize it, I'll field him; more likely in Jayth Haris, than on his own. First impression is that I'm not sure if I'm willing to make such investment, when I can get almost the same performance out of cheaper units. Dukash should be fun. He looks like a reasonably priced toolbox - good shooter, decent in melee, durable unless shocked, and a specialist to boot. And Cadmus nerf was well deserved, it was one of the most absurd no risk, high reward options in the game. Now it's a decent risk - high reward.
Sorry, what was nerfed on the red fury Jayth? It looks pretty much the same to me between editions. I do think putting haris on only the character is an annoying change.
It went up 3 points and lost shock immunity. Not that the others didnt - they all got this change - but its more a bummer in this case because it really pushes up the price into "why dont i just take a caliban" territory and its making that +1b bonus much more costly by essentially making the whole team cost +9pts overall. pretty sure these guys not having native haris is a bug, too, since they have it on the fireteam chart and @ijw said those are the prime canonical source
Ah, I just misinterpreted/misread the shas rule, same goes for the Jayth haris since I was under the impression that the haris on the sectorial chart was just referring to the fact that they could haris with Sargosh. --- Then since he's not required for the haris I'm a little less inclined to take him outside of his cool model, though as Leviathan stated he is a good trade out for the red-fury which I'd like to try out.
Would be nice to see more Shasvastii Sectoral discussion on the forum. Im new to Shasvastii in N4 and still trying to see the interplay between units. Have any of the older characters changed up much?
Also, side note... Aida Swanson got a minor improvement in the form of Booty. on a forward deploying model with mimetism, that's really not a bad get.
There's a Shas tactics thread here: you're right, it's not really that long; you're right, we could use some more discussion about them, especially after N4 changes. Older characters - Hasht and Sheskiin - didn't really change much. Hasht is basically a cheap, durable fireteam pointman, and for that role there's no bloat on his profile. He's got good BS, NWI+Immunity for durability, and carries his own cover with him, so he's less dependant on table layout. Stealth and Specialist add a bit of versatility to his profile, but he's main function is to act as a durable Spitfire user, that can either advance solo through an open fire lane, or guide a fireteam through one. Sheskiin is a monster, regardless of version. Nanoscreen profile share's Hasht's ability to advance through open ground, and is actually the one I'd like to push into CQB and ultimatily CC, to munch on some opposing troops. This means equipping her with Multi, and possibly pairing her with an M-Drone; the drone allows for quick and easy discover rolls against skirmishers, while Sheskiin can make short work of them in CC, getting more durable in the process. Boarding Action version is only worth it over the standard one if you plan to stick to cover, or expect a lot of troopers with Marksmanship. With her Red Fury she'll probably prefer mid-range firefights, only pushing in closer if there's a good opportunity to exploit. If you plan to advance with her, you might want to have a Shrouded or Malignos deploy a Dazer; it'll grant her additional 1" of movement, which might not be much, but can mean that you'll be able to reach a firing spot or total cover in one order, rather than two, and if opponent doesn't have a trooper with Terrain (Total) it'll buff you while hindering him at the same time. Both versions profit a lot from the changes to Protheion; when combined with MA4 and DA CCW this skill will make them W4 in no time.