Looking through the update, it’s hard to say exactly who the winners are, but I think Penny (who we already had), Eudoros, and Ajax are my top three. Penny with bioimmunity and shock immunity is fantastic. She is significantly more capable of surviving. On top of that, she’s four points less. Ajax was good, now he’s an absolute monster. Mimetism and forward deployment are phenomenal. You can even link him with some myrmidons back in the deployment zone for the burst bonus. My biggest winner is Eudoros. All that he was before plus shock immunity and he’s a specialist. Sure, he costs one more point and of course I would prefer to have the option of +1 burst in cc (I know that the swing is statistically better, but it was nice to force more saves in the AC2 and armored units), but he’s a multi purpose machine.
Atalanta is a huge winner here (though was already released), even coming from a strong position. Marksmanship, BS Attack(Shock), BS15 (she somehow managed to get another point of BS between editions), Total Reaction makes her a literal mixed Fireteam:Core in a model. Steel Phalanx suffered in the reactive turn in N3 (you could ARO with like, Phoenix, I guess), and now I'm just terrified of Atalanta anytime I hear my opponent is playing Aleph. The only option for some armies is to try to play without engaging her entirely. I would agree on Ajax -- he might actually be the scariest CC piece in the game right now (a position he was pretty competitive in before, and now he's even beyond JSA's top-tier CC specialists just due to his meatiness). His CC Attack is B2 DAM18 EXP, and he Crits on 10s (because you will almost always be using Berserk). Being able to start 8 inches further up the table is huge, and Mimetism is better for him than the extra B on the Combi was because it helps him leverage his high PH to dodge at people who want to shoot him in his reactive turn. I don't have a third one. Scylla is much better now, but I see a much bigger place for her in Acon than I do in Steel Phalanx. It might be Patroclus, who now is a full-fledged HI and got NCO, Specialist Operative, Dodge bonuses, and a CC buff, and stayed about the same cost.
Not sure if this has changed already since you posted but Ajax shows up for me as having BS Attack (+1B), nothing there about CC +1B.
Woops, I misread his BS Attack(+1B) modifier. That actually means he's even better at shooting now, since he got Mimetism, and he's still a nightmare in CC for all the reasons I listed above.
Who wins is hard because of play style and all. I like Patoculus and Diomedes a lot. I feel Pheniox, Eudoros, and Alke are all honorable mansions. Thrasymedes being wild card is nice where Acmon is meh to me. I feel we no longer have 2 LT options so the Hector vs Achilles ways can loosen up for some more variabilities in lists.
Completely agree with Atalanta and Ajax and would add Acmon to the list: He went from dodged to 2W, gained a Gizmokit, +5 to CC, tactical Awareness and he is a Wildcard for +4 points to its cost and lose the Nimbus grenades. Also the new NCO profile of Alke (with multi rifle dmg 14 and no cap cost) is quite decent.
Tac aware is also amazing, especially if you're running a limited insertion list. Getting that extra order to move the squad around is great. Also gives a long range tool to play with in the panzerfaust and is a specialist to boot. Great addition to round out a Myrm link
Funny that Ajax gained Mimetism, while Patroclus lost his. I love that Pat got to be a specialist, I’m just hoping the loss of mimetism is a mistake.
There are so many changes I love, the wildcards make things like a dactly link with Hector and/or Hippolyta as a main attcker much more tempting. Or putting acomn in a Myrmidon link instead, there is just a lot of flexibility there. I love the Thorakites are still cheap and useful. I love the flashy updates to Ajax, Penny, and others as mentioned. I am still processing the changes to Pat, they are significant. I'm pretty sure they're not an accident @regelridderen , halomask and mimitism have NFB. There no longer is a magic level of haloprojector exclusive to Pat, so I'm pretty sure he was intentionally reworked to remove that anti-synergy. The one thing that leaves me a little confused is just the regular Agema. They're the same? Except they cost more? I never considered them particularly good options before, though if you didn't have points for Teucer/Atalanta, they were an okay substitution. The ML at least was something unique, but why the price hike?
Is achilles still good enough to run into CC with burst down to only 1? On patroclus, i find him very odd. We got long range fighter with high burst(and dmg16) beside Phoenix. He now has 2w, +1arm but no mimitisam... And holomask is ...well burning orders like crazy. What is generaly thought of Pat? Is a 55 points still expensive to run in a list with Hector/Achilles or does he now have an open slot waiting?
He's more likely to do at least one wound than he was in N3, and less likely to take a wound. MA4 is better in almost all situations than it was in N3, except edge cases like chewing through an AC2 or Jotum.
Woha - I missing the second W on Acmon and just thought, why he´s getting so expencive, just for TA? I hope this is not a mistake ... LI with 2 W are very rare in the game. But this will make him a very good and reliable support troop.
Biggest winner to me is Alke with the Subofficer MULTI rifle +1DMG profile... she is now playable! Thrasimedes can now form his own "tac team" with a Dactyl Doctor and Hyppolita... Acmon (has a duo) can link with Patroclus while Achilles can do so with Hyppolita and gain Eclipse smoke...
I'm gonna miss our short term Climbing plus on Teucer. With the price drop and Shock Ammo I'm wondering if the K1 sniper might have use now though. Otherwise he seems lackluster compared to the old MMLX version