Witch Hunters: Builds, Tactics, and General Advice Requested

[CatGrenade]

New player to Mordheim. Really liking the game so far. Xcom Long War quality ♥♥♥♥ right here.

Anyway, I have been googling for everything I can find on the Witch Hunters as it is the 1st warband I am working on. Level 3 warband so far. No injuries sustained yet, but feel things are getting a little precarious at times.

I am looking for how others have approaced this warband. So far I am keeping the training wheels on and running a 7 man squad or less and trying to run normal and hard missions with easy to moderate deployment situations. Only tackled one brutal thus far under ideal circumstances.

Using my leader as a ranged unit, and running a templar tank while training a smuggler. Using 3 flagellenants and a ranged zealot or melee zealot.

The composition I am currently shooting for is a leader and 2 smugglers as ranged damage along with a templar tank, priest, and an additional tank of some sort. Probably fil it out with just flagellants and maybe a lone zealot.

Theory is to use a defensive position with choke points that let ranged units pump out damage while tanks hold key positions and use the flagellants to burst down priority targets.

Not sure if this is too ranged heavy for the Witch Hunters. No idea what skills to take on flagellants. Not sure if Templars are the best tank choice, or if another hero can fill the ranged roll better than a second smuggler (upgraded zealot, upgraded marksman late game, or a witch hunter/other).

Would like to hear anyones personal approach to Witch Hunters. If you have constructive criticism for my approach. Need help on builds in general and skills to prioritize. Its easy enough to idenetify a couple key skills, but hard to pick out a full build let alone build order with my inexperience.

Thanks for all input and feedback. This is a kickass game and thankfully rewards knowledge and tactics. Also, RNG is good so shut up whiners and grow a pair.

[DOOMed]

The problem with Witch Hunters is the lack of any decent Henchmen with range capability.

The Heroes can be very good at range but if you focus on range for your Leader and Witch Hunter hero you will find you have no Hammer for the Anvil of your Henchmen, except the Impressive.

This can work but it is risky, all your eggs in one basket etc. Couple this with the fact that Witch Hunters have to rely on the Priest of Ulric for magic and you'll see see, only having one hammer is perilous.

You have to make a Hobson's choice with Witch Hunters (especially seeing as Flagellants can't take Lad's got Talent). Go for close combat with your main characters and you lose any chance at having a decent sniper. Go for all range and you risk having your hammer out of position, and that can swing a lot of games.

What I did, was to make my Leader and Witch Hunter Heroes better at range, but had the Templar act as a second tank unit. You can experiment to a degree. Having a Leader that is a jack of all trades can work, but then you will struggle for ranged support. Witch Hunter Henchman are best served being a frontline. Use Flagellants as a mix of hard hitting shock troops and high agility dodgers.

Use the Zealots as the Anvil. Give them a single handed weapon, shield and armour and pin enemies down with them. Follow this up with ranged support from any Hero you choose to develop in that regard and hit them hard and fast with the Impressive/Flagellants.

Hope it helps, and it's just my 2 cents worth.

[Paranoia]

Myself, went with 5 Dodge Tank Flagellants (back when Zealots basically had no Default Skill), a Dodge Tank Shooter hybrid Captain, 2 Wolfies and an Executioner (with Sidestep).
...Was a bit heavy in Crits and Dodge. But worked real nice.
For Story Missions I also had 2 Warrior Priests around.

One can't oversell how reliable Flagellants are with their Immunities and ability to Disengage. I didn't even bother with Crit Resist and still I lost next to none.

[DOOMed]

Originally posted by Paranoia:

Myself, went with 5 Dodge Tank Flagellants (back when Zealots basically had no Default Skill), a Dodge Tank Shooter hybrid Captain, 2 Wolfies and an Executioner (with Sidestep).
...Was a bit heavy in Crits and Dodge. But worked real nice.
For Story Missions I also had 2 Warrior Priests around.

One can't oversell how reliable Flagellants are with their Immunities and ability to Disengage. I didn't even bother with Crit Resist and still I lost next to none.

I focussed on high agilty/high Toughness for my Executioner.

I never really got on with the Warrior Priest. By the time they were available, the Wolf Priest was just so much more advanced, buffing combat stats and hitting hard on the charge.

Immaculate Flesh just didn't cut it by then.

[DOOMed]

Originally posted by Fun Lovin':

Originally posted by Paranoia:

Myself, went with 5 Dodge Tank Flagellants (back when Zealots basically had no Default Skill), a Dodge Tank Shooter hybrid Captain, 2 Wolfies and an Executioner (with Sidestep).
...Was a bit heavy in Crits and Dodge. But worked real nice.
For Story Missions I also had 2 Warrior Priests around.

One can't oversell how reliable Flagellants are with their Immunities and ability to Disengage. I didn't even bother with Crit Resist and still I lost next to none.

I focussed on high agilty/high Toughness for my Executioner.

I never really got on with the Warrior Priest. By the time they were available, the Wolf Priest was just so much more advanced, buffing combat stats and hitting hard on the charge.

Immaculate Flesh just didn't cut it by then.

Though that is probably biased seeing as Wolf Priests are available straight off the bat.

[Castor]

I'm building mine with no ranged units.

Dodge tank leader with Warcry.

Pair of Knights as hammer and anvil team. One a parry/MR tank with Overpower and the other a glass cannon (Daredevil and Mighty Charge).

Support Warrior Priest to heal and off tank if needed.

Last hero spot is variable and may eventually be a WH or Smuggler ranged unit. Using a WH hero for now, built for dodge and DW.

Five dodge Flagellants because they are just so cool in my opinion. I like flails for them.

[DOOMed]

Originally posted by Castor:

I'm building mine with no ranged units.

Dodge tank leader with Warcry.

Pair of Knights as hammer and anvil team. One a parry/MR tank with Overpower and the other a glass cannon (Daredevil and Mighty Charge).

Support Warrior Priest to heal and off tank if needed.

Last hero spot is variable and may eventually be a WH or Smuggler ranged unit. Using a WH hero for now, built for dodge and DW.

Five dodge Flagellants because they are just so cool in my opinion. I like flails for them.

Pair of Knights as hammer and anvil team. One a parry/MR tank with Overpower and the other a glass cannon (Daredevil and Mighty Charge).

Sounds good, sure I don't need to tell you the fragility of that glass cannon. Tactics like that imply you know the risks.

eventually be a WH or Smuggler ranged unit

A tough choice. Think I'd take the WH though just for the crossbow pistols.

Five dodge Flagellants

Again, you obviously know the risks, but I think I'd still take 1 heavy armour/shield zealot. Just me though.

[Castor]

I keep my hammer safe with Prowling Flagellants. I'm addicted to the big hits. I also keep some Flagellants in reserves for when one of them moves on to his eternal reward. It happens pretty rarely though.

[CatGrenade]

Appreciate the replies. Fun Lovin, I see your point regarding lacking versatility in this strategy. Mistakes will doubtlessly be punishing, I am OK with that as long as it has the capacity to succeed. I''m sure I'll tweak things as time goes on.

Starting out with a precision demanding playstyle is fine for me. Accelerate the learning process and whatnot.

I do think I will diversify a little bit in my reserve ranks due to your point. Some deployment situations will warrant a melee focus, and maybe I can pull off a couple hybrid units despite lack of specialization having its consequences. Really like hybrids conceptually

Regarding impressives, I am not sure I will run one often. Outside of having one for campaign missions I am not sure I want the liability of facing down opposing impressives.

I wasn't sure if zealots can make adequate tanks giving their lack of heavy armor. How do they perform vs dodge zealots? How should a zealot be built for durable melee?

What skills/build for flagellents. Agility and WS seem the key stats. Sidestep looks core. What else though?

I have toyed around with Wolf Priests a bit. I found him unimpressive at low level, and looking at his skills and spells I didn't see where he generates real value later on. I am sure I am missing something and misunderstande his role.

Smugglers seem quite good on the other hand. Turtleling up and laying traps seems strong. Either traps stack damage on turns without combat or use them to control AI pathing which is even stronger than straight damage.

[Castor]

Flagellants with max Agility and weapon skill work nicely with Sidestep and Prowl. I like to dual wield flails to use up all five pills at max rank. I'll check my full build when I sober up in a day or so.

[DOOMed]

Originally posted by CatGrenade:

Appreciate the replies. Fun Lovin, I see your point regarding lacking versatility in this strategy. Mistakes will doubtlessly be punishing, I am OK with that as long as it has the capacity to succeed. I''m sure I'll tweak things as time goes on.

Starting out with a precision demanding playstyle is fine for me. Accelerate the learning process and whatnot.

I do think I will diversify a little bit in my reserve ranks due to your point. Some deployment situations will warrant a melee focus, and maybe I can pull off a couple hybrid units despite lack of specialization having its consequences. Really like hybrids conceptually

Regarding impressives, I am not sure I will run one often. Outside of having one for campaign missions I am not sure I want the liability of facing down opposing impressives.

I wasn't sure if zealots can make adequate tanks giving their lack of heavy armor. How do they perform vs dodge zealots? How should a zealot be built for durable melee?

What skills/build for flagellents. Agility and WS seem the key stats. Sidestep looks core. What else though?

I have toyed around with Wolf Priests a bit. I found him unimpressive at low level, and looking at his skills and spells I didn't see where he generates real value later on. I am sure I am missing something and misunderstande his role.

Smugglers seem quite good on the other hand. Turtleling up and laying traps seems strong. Either traps stack damage on turns without combat or use them to control AI pathing which is even stronger than straight damage.

I kept a zealot who lost both an arm and a leg...

The bonus he gained through only having one arm was far outweighed by the light armour only and the low agility compared to a flagellant.

Give them a shield instead and focus on parry for non story missions. Daemons and cultists often bypass parry so stick with flagellants...immune to terror etc and parry isn't an issue, just dodge.

Smugglers seem quite good on the other hand

Traps aside (I don't like them because I never have luck with them), I prefer a witch hunter with crossbow pistols as range support. Cheaper to reload and cheaper to fire and still pushing high damage when you get best quality with an enchantment and relevant skills.

[Castor]

http://www.pyrospace.co.uk/mordheim/#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%3D%3D

This would be the general idea I use for Flagellants.

The last two skills with some stat tweaking could be support skills to use while unengaged such as Insult, Exploit Position, etc.

Enchants would be wounds or dodge on the amulet, weapon skill on the chest, and luck (crit resist) on the weapons.

Hope that helps.

[FCauldron]

In my opinion zealots are better in melee, they can have more layers of defense for tanking, I built mine with arround 60 MR, 30-35 armor with mastered light armor and helmet (don't remember exact numbers), resilent and arround 100 parry/web of steel. All with appropriate skills and runes but without books on the other hand flagellants only have sidestep...
So I only leveled 2 flagellants (1 main and 1 replacement) in case of psychology affecting units and if my Templar tank is busy although my zealots have more than 50 psychology resistances.

[Osogladiator]

How do you unlock the War Priest? I have the Witch Hunter DLC, but he is not showing up.

[Paranoia]

Originally posted by Osogladiator:

How do you unlock the War Priest? I have the Witch Hunter DLC, but he is not showing up.

Warrior Priests unlock at Warband Rank 4. Or at a Secondary Faction Reputation 5 in case of Sister and Mercenary Warbands.

[Osogladiator]

Thank you!