Should I play with Luthor Harkon or Count Noctilus? (Vampire Coast)

[Akfiz]

Should I pick The Awakened led by Luthor Harkon or The Dreadfleet led by Count Noctilus?

I asked myself this question before, because both of them had cool premises. Luthor Harkon is the Jack Sparrow with a fractured mind that he seeks to restore while Count Noctilus is the Davy Jones who lives in the deep and takes other ships with him.

I liked both, but didn't know which one to start with, know I know - Count Noctilus.

Count Noctilus is far better, way more superior than Luthor Harkon, so pick Count Noctilus.

Luthor Harkon:

- Starting on the Vampire Coast in The Awakening castle has the advantage that you can quickly capture towns next to you. With a good rush early game you can easily take without any fights because they are ruins: All the Vampire Coast, River Qurveza (south region of the Vampire Coast) and Voclanic Islands (islands south-west of the Vampire Coast).

You can reach all settlements in these 3 regions before the Skaven or Lizardmen can reach you. So if you want an empire-building with the Vampire Coast, then Luthor Harkon is the better choice.

But that and the quest to restore your mind is all there is that Luthor Harkon does better than Count Noctilus.

The Lizardmen hate you & you hate them, so eventually you will have a war with them, whether you want it or not. Your lords are a little bit stronger, your personal army has +25% magic ressistance, bonus leadership vs Lizardmen and +3 vampire corruption in the region you currently are.

His starter units:
- Deck Droppers are the worst and pointless of the Deck Dropper units.
- Bloated Corpse is equally pointless as his only goal is to explode, suicide damage.
- Mournguls are Luthor's only good starting unit, good at taking out infantry.

He is a good personal fighter, above average, especially after you cure his mind or get the mount.

Count Noctilus

- You start in the middle of the ocean, good luck to anyone trying to invade your base.

You get war declaration missions with unique rewards, more pirate crew recruitment capacity, -1 turn recruit duration for Necrofex Colossus (the absolute best units of the Vampire Coast).

This personal army gets -20% upkeep for Necrofex Colossus and +15% weapon strength for all large units.

His starter units:
- Depth Guard, best anti-infantry infantry
- Zombie Pirate Gunner Mob, basic starting weak range infantry
- Necrofex Colossus, the most powerful unit of the Vampire Coast

He is a very powerful personal fighter that can tank entire armies for a very long time. And his Necrofex mount possibly makes him into possibly the most powerful fighting lord in the game.

All things considered, is there even a competition?

Getting Necrofex Colossus in turn 1 is such a joke. Not even that, but he has 3 bonuses for the Necrofex Colossus (one that includes all large units, Necrofex Colossus is a large unit).

It wasn't even a competition.

I found the answer so I wanted to mention that in case someone has a similar question because I couldn't find anything when I searched it myself.

[Yellowdragon]

Play both.

[Akfiz]

I like Luthor's story better. The reason he and the Lizardmen hate each other is because he sought Lizardmen temples for more power (that's where he had his mind shattered) and now he seeks again Lizardmen temples to restore his mind. But Count Noctilus is so much more powerful and better than Luthor gameplay-wise.

[the.lovewyrm]

Harkon every time for me. Noctilus is a legit OG but, I just like Luthor more, even after considering his schizophrenic meta situation where his win conditions are land conquest while being a seafaring pirate in his 'nature'.

It's pretty easy to get a grip on lustria late game, though, so ...I don't feel too held back leaving those win conditions alone, and going sailing and pillaging instead.

[Sputnik]

Play both a few times and then make us a guide on them. Seems like you got the writing chops.

[intenselygoodtime]

Originally posted by Sputnik:

Play both a few times and then make us a guide on them. Seems like you got the writing chops.

Agreed! Just reading that post got me amped up to try Vampire Coast.

[Pronoun Paladin ☯]

I'm a fan of Defin, specially for her ability to summon shock cavalry

[Power and Wealth]

Like snow said, Direfin is also an outstanding choice. Her (it? She's a ghost?) army trait
magical damage is absolutely amazing. One tale of caution, Direfin being a ghost means she'll take a LOT of damage from friendly fire, so pay attention and don't accidentally teamkill her like I did.
As for the -20% upkeep/recruit costs for Syreen and Mourngul units, they're both decent units and I use them on occasion early game when facing large amounts of trash units with no magic damage.