Do HexWraiths beat All NonMagical Cav?

[yuzhonglu]

Just wondering.

I've noticed they matchup evenly with trolls in a stand up fight.

[JODEGAFUN]

The do well aiganst most non magical units, at least if they get not surrounded and outnumbered.

[zefyris]

you mean against cav with no magical attack? That may be yes. Pretty much all cav get any sturdiness they have from either armour and/or physical resist, and since Hexwraiths have magical attacks and 90% AP damage they pretty much ignore all that cav's defense while ignoring 3/4th of the enemy damage themselves (or 4/5th if hexwraiths are at 80%).
So that's a pretty huge handicap for even elite anti large cavalry to recover from. Maybe some RoR can still do it.

[yuzhonglu]

So I guess it's the best anti-cav cav in the game. And it's free for Arkhan and recruitable in 1 turn.

Just keep them away from medusas, Sisters, and spellcasters.

[Garatgh Deloi]

Originally posted by yuzhonglu:

So I guess it's the best anti-cav cav in the game. And it's free for Arkhan and recruitable in 1 turn.

Fairly certain you start with a Grave Hill and it then needs to be upgraded into a ancient burial mound for hexwraiths.

[yuzhonglu]

Not by T80 when Nagazashir is at level 5. When you can get a hundred of them.

[zefyris]

Originally posted by yuzhonglu:

So I guess it's the best anti-cav cav in the game. And it's free for Arkhan and recruitable in 1 turn.

Just keep them away from medusas, Sisters, and spellcasters.

You're forgetting about Bretonnian elite cavs that are pretty much all having magic damage.
Also, keep them away from your own artillery shots because they're all magic damage as TK ^^".

There's definitely some downsides for hexwraiths. As long as you're aware of those and keep like 2 armies without them to deal with stuff like Bretonnian elite armies (WE are dangerous as well) when you're at war with them, then no problem yeah, they're bonkers.
One way is to make sure to kill quickly anything that deals magic damage, and then as Arkhan, they're pretty much reigning free on the battlefield for the rest of the battle.

if you really find yourself in a situation where an army with plenty of Hexwraith has to fight an army with too much magic damage, make sure that the lich priest in that army get the item that gives temporary a +66% magic resist and focus down anything dangerous while the buff is active.

Armies with only ranged/artillery magical are not as much as a problem btw. That's because hexwraiths are vanguard so they can reach them easily right at the engagement, kill them or rout them (since they cause terror with large charge impact and 90 speed) right away and then move away if needed from the rest of the enemy army.
I had some fun with armies with like 15 hexwraith taking down ranged heavy armies by deploying all hexwraith right next to the enemy's deployment zone and have a fantastic charge from all of them the moment the battle started. Enemies barely fired a shot.

[Fendelphi]

They are also highly susceptible to spells, although the AI is not the best at using such things(however, get bogged down by skaven infantry and then get a Warplightning in the face is not uncommon).

Their leadership is the biggest weakness IMO. 40 is quite poor, since ranged fire and artillery strikes will already subtract 15 from that, so they often fight with only 20-25 leadership. If they then get attacked in the rear, that is another -14. Finally, there is damage sustained leadership penalties.

And while their melee stats are not the worst, they are not exactly good either. Low charge bonus(for cavalry) means they rely more on sustained combat.

In my opinion, they are a good situational unit(fast anti-armor), but far less reliable compared to Blood Knights and rather expensive for what it does(you can get fairly mobile anti-armor through Cairn Wraiths, Crypt Horrors, Terrorgheists, Black Coach and Varghulfs, so it is not exactly a niche that is lacking).

It might be a decent pick for Arkhan under the right circumstances though.

[zefyris]

Originally posted by Fendelphi:

And while their melee stats are not the worst, they are not exactly good either. Low charge bonus(for cavalry) means they rely more on sustained combat.

They don't have low charge bonus with arkhan, since he buffs them factionwide, they have around 50 charge bonus which is actually shock cav range so very good .

Originally posted by Fendelphi:

In my opinion, they are a good situational unit(fast anti-armor), but far less reliable compared to Blood Knights and rather expensive for what it does(you can get fairly mobile anti-armor through Cairn Wraiths, Crypt Horrors, Terrorgheists, Black Coach and Varghulfs, so it is not exactly a niche that is lacking).

None of those are available for arkhan, and they're one of the "cheapest" unit for arkhan late game as well.

I think there's a clear need to differentiate Hexwraith's utility for Arkhan vs VCounts.
Also when you run heavy on ethereal units you obviously are supposed to gang up on any enemy source of magic damage the moment you start the engagement.
Most casters aren't known to be especially tough once caught in melee.

[Fendelphi]

Originally posted by zefyris:

Originally posted by Fendelphi:

And while their melee stats are not the worst, they are not exactly good either. Low charge bonus(for cavalry) means they rely more on sustained combat.

They don't have low charge bonus with arkhan, since he buffs them factionwide, they have around 50 charge bonus which is actually shock cav range so very good .

Originally posted by Fendelphi:

In my opinion, they are a good situational unit(fast anti-armor), but far less reliable compared to Blood Knights and rather expensive for what it does(you can get fairly mobile anti-armor through Cairn Wraiths, Crypt Horrors, Terrorgheists, Black Coach and Varghulfs, so it is not exactly a niche that is lacking).

None of those are available for arkhan, and they're one of the "cheapest" unit for arkhan late game as well.

I think there's a clear need to differentiate Hexwraith's utility for Arkhan vs VCounts.
Also when you run heavy on ethereal units you obviously are supposed to gang up on any enemy source of magic damage the moment you start the engagement.
Most casters aren't known to be especially tough once caught in melee.

As I said, a decent pick for Arkhan in the right circumstance. Even in his armies, you have other options for mobile AP though.

However, in general(the OP was not specific, which means also Vampire Counts), they are very situational and you have other alternatives.

[wrought82]

Originally posted by yuzhonglu:

Not by T80 when Nagazashir is at level 5. When you can get a hundred of them.

Nagazashir? i never tried arkhan partly because the units werent that interesting vs standard roster. is there some special building or something giving a huge cap?

[Zane87]

Originally posted by wrought82:

Originally posted by yuzhonglu:

Not by T80 when Nagazashir is at level 5. When you can get a hundred of them.

Nagazashir? i never tried arkhan partly because the units werent that interesting vs standard roster. is there some special building or something giving a huge cap?

Not entirely sure about the details but a lvl1/lvl3 building that gives both income as well as 2 hexwraith cap (and dire wolves and bats) and vampiric corruption.

Pretty decent actually, especially early on as it both gives income, corruption and caps.

[Zaskar]

Originally posted by wrought82:

Originally posted by yuzhonglu:

Not by T80 when Nagazashir is at level 5. When you can get a hundred of them.

Nagazashir? i never tried arkhan partly because the units werent that interesting vs standard roster. is there some special building or something giving a huge cap?

Nagashizzar's landmark gives you 100 Hexwraiths to work with.

[Zane87]

Originally posted by Zaskar:

Originally posted by wrought82:

Nagazashir? i never tried arkhan partly because the units werent that interesting vs standard roster. is there some special building or something giving a huge cap?

Nagashizzar's landmark gives you 100 Hexwraiths to work with.

Damn. I should maybe start an Arkhan campaign

[zefyris]

Nagashizaar gives
100 of each vampire unit (you'll mostly care about hexwraiths at that point though) and
+5% physical resist to all units (vampiric or not) which means Hexwraiths have 80% instead of 75% phy resist, as well as
reducing by FIVE TURNS the recruit time for global recuitment of vampire units (meaning hexwraiths recruit in one turn in global) and then arkhan gives a factionwide +3 recruit rank and +20 charge bonus to them.

So they're free, recruit in one turn anywhere in the world, they have as high of a charge as a shock cavalry, they have an effective healthpool in large of 21,500 hp against physical damage (three time the health pool of a warsphynx), they have 90% AP damage, magical and fire damage, 90 speed, strider, cause terror, and are vanguard.


On top of that, Nagashizaar also gives some money per turn (200), and reduces by 20% all of your spell cooldowns (which is pretty damn huge as well).

Originally posted by Fendelphi:

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As I said, a decent pick for Arkhan in the right circumstance. Even in his armies, you have other options for mobile AP though.

However, in general(the OP was not specific, which means also Vampire Counts), they are very situational and you have other alternatives.

Hexwraith are not "situational" by any means.
What is "situational" is the moment where you're better of using armies without them. BEcause physical damage is way, WAY more frequent than magical damage, so just focusing on magical damage source to kill them fast is usually enough to leave your hexwraith absolutely wrecking everything without taking any significant damage (especially since you can heal them as well).
Like I said i nanother thread, as Arkhan in VH by turn 150 I was using 100 of them, so almost half of my slots were occupied by them. And they were mostly all rank 7-9 simply because of the recruit bonus + the high amount of kills they are doing per fight.

[Andrewbh2003]

last i checked in a 1v1 hexwraiths lose to demis W halbeards

that was a year ago and might have changed since then if anyone feels like testing that feel free