Are "Possessed" worth it?

[Crimson]

It seems every time I make a "Possessed" in my main Cult of the Possessed warband, they get focused down by the AI and absolutely slaughtered; if they die then they get an absolutely horrid injury that makes me have to fire them and buy another one, or if they don't die and survive then "Open Wounds" gives me a terrible injury, I even ended up getting a Brain Fracture on one of them. They have an absolutely terrible chance to dodge, do mediocre damage, can't hit to LITERALLY save their life or get the finishing blow so that they gain XP to level up and prevent their death, and have a horrid HP-pool. It seems pretty weird that their so weak and the Chaos warband is named AFTER them. Meanwhile my Mutant and Marauder smash through people as if the enemy was a banana so I can't tell if I should just give up on having Possessed because they keep dying because the enemy's AI says for them to go past ALL of my troops and blitz the Possessed guy with a 2-Handed weapon charge and get multiple swings and then the enemy isn't as affected by Fear or All Alone checks as much as my non-Darksouls and non-Marauders. Also... Why are Darksouls immune to All Alone but not even resistant to Fear/Terror? They can perfectly keep their cool when being dog-piled but bring ONE impressive at them and nothing else, and suddenly they're weak in their knees?

[Frenetic]

there is a huge threat exactly about this topic already, just use the search function bro.
in short, yeah they are probably not that great, usually its better to just use marauders and mutants.
however there are some arm mutation combinations that are restricted to chaos spawn and possessed only which can make them really good. but that requires alot of luck.

[Crimson]

Alright, thank you for that information. The AI will gravitate towards Possessed so much that I can't really get them to anything before maybe level 1 and a quarter if they're even that lucky.

[6cef]

The three Chaos heroes are all very similar. In terms of damage, max stats, & morale check perks, the Possessed are basically better Marauders with limited weapon choices. Mutants are slightly weaker Marauders who can disengage.

Practically: do not enage an enemy with the Possessed (or a Marauder) unless you will win (by whatever means) or have no other choice.

And I felt the same way about how weak the Possessed are. Remember, though, you gain access to them relatively later when your best Mutant or Marauder is relatively more powerful. You may also make the mistake of thinking they're a silver bullet. You may compound these errors by having your Possessed attack too recklessly his first time out, he goes all OoA, gets a bad wound roll, and all this leaves a bad taste.

Suck it the eff up, it's Mordheim.

And is the AI gravitating to the Possessed or is the AI gravitating to the most dangerous but easiest to kill warrior? Who knows? The question is what to do.

Get one with a slicer to level 5. You'll see they're fine.

Get a slicer by hiring two at a time, and fire immediately if they don't get the mutation you like. "Sorry, dude, it's not you. But it is you." This is an investment of time and gold. It will not always be worth it but maybe you need a brawler cuz your first mutant just died. RIP Witold.

Get them to level 5 by using the warband strength autobalancing to your advantage. Sending out a newly hired Possessed with your highest level dudes is going to get him killed. Too dangerous & you increase your chance of losing by forgoing a decent character in his slot.

Instead, level him up on normal difficulty missions with your backup leader, a mid-tier hero pal, & whatever henchmen. Much easier. 5-6 units tops. Critically: no impressive! Too unpredictable for this.

If that's too annoying, keep an eye out for hired sword with the right mutation.

Try it or not, just some thoughts.

Good luck!

[Greybush]

Possessed are tricky, if you try to as the powerhouses they look like.
Get too much Strength, and you'll have poor Dodge or Toughness.
Invest in Agi, and you'll have low damage or Toughness.
Put everything in Toughness, and Dodge or damage is low.

And you can only wear Cloth armour, so you can't go for absorbing damage.
Basically, if you try to make a heavy hitter who can tank, you're gonna be disappointed.

But if you go for a glass cannon build (16+ Str, 9 Toughness and Agi, for example), you can get a finisher with a long reach (9 Movement with Claw Foot).

Or you can go for a Dodge build (15 Agi). Then you get 95% base Dodge (with purple Cloth), and whatever effects your mutations give. Extra Face, and you're at 110% Dodge.
And so on.

[footpatrol2]

you can give someone in your warband as a team member ideally a close combat hero's rune of dismay to help out with your possessed.

Ideally your magister so he can benefit from blood sacrifice.

Spear w/ rune of dismay
quick incision
weak spot.

Keep your magister higher in the initiative tree then your possessed and ideally close to each other in initiative or just debuff the target so the posssessed just kills it.

[MS87]

Have option from hired swords to get one with crusher on right arm and injury decapitated left arm. Is possessed better that way?

[Wendek]

Crusher is not that good (there's better) but the severed arm could actually help him. If not too expensive I'd probably try him.
Remember his left arm can regrow if it mutates though.

[MS87]

Thought I hit the jackpot. Which one is better then in your opinion on him? Or perfect setup

[Wendek]

Ripper is the strongest right arm mutation. Only Possessed and Spawn can have it.
But Crusher is probably second best.

[Lasfar]

I like to get the slicer on the right arm or a piercer on the left, that way the possessed can parry. He has a pretty good WS so he can actually get pretty good, even without a shield. This way he gains some suvivability on his glass cannon build.

[Wendek]

With a purple armband Ripper gives something like -15% crit resist per hit though. It's really absurdly powerful and the main reason to use that unit if you ask me.

[MS87]

I ask mainly because he has left arm decapitation which gives him more dodge and more attacks. Is that better then maybe left and right arm mutations?

[Wendek]

Yes it's actually good to have a severed arm on them especially before rank 10. I was just commenting on the right arm mutation itself.
But I would still try him out.

[Lasfar]

I've had wet dreams about a possessed missing an arm, the only ones i've gotten on offer though has also had some other injuries, or the lost arm had a previous mutation - now gone.
While levelling Possessed, I usually give them the blue rune of fate (cannot loose a leg) untilthey get a left arm mutation - then they get the purple one (cannot loose arms either).
I've never even seen the ripper mutation - neither on a spawn nor a possessed - exept for on AI warbands, but I guess I'm just really unlucky.
For a long time, I shunned the possessed, thought they were worthless - now my pet project is getting a really good one. I have 2 really good Marauders, a pretty good spawn (would have liked to get one with ripper, but hey). But I still haven't found my perfect possessed. Got a decent one with slicer, extra arm - mace, and 1000 eyes - and I'm levelling another for dodge build, just to try it out - so far I'm not impressed. Two other builds i wanna try out is a really fast scout/loot the map guy and a crit stacking glass cannon, for the last one, I want ripper.

[Greybush]

Originally posted by Lasfar:

ITwo other builds i wanna try out is a really fast scout/loot the map guy

As looters/scouts, they can be really good! That's what I've been using mine as while levelling him. Was lucky enough to get Claw Foot early on.