Kayvaan Shrike - Tactics and Strategy

[Archon_77]

Hello everyone!  I'm creating this thread for purely selfish reasons, as I'm really struggling with using him properly in games, an also to discuss as a community ways he can be utilized on the table top effectively.  As I did not find a thread about him now that he's gone thru the Rubicon (and thus has a new Pistol and Stat line) I decided to start one.

 

Basically, I'd like to discuss when to have him on the board (since he deepstrikes), his synergies with other units, target selection for him, how to keep him alive beyond one assassination, etc.  

 

We did a ton of speculation with him when he was first released, so how has he actually performed?  What has he done well?  What hasn't he done so great?  How long does he stay alive for you?  Is he a good candidate for Warlord?   All this, and more hopefully below!!!

 

 

[Claws and Effect]

He doesn't do great against melee focused characters, in my experience. If it has a good invuln he is unlikely to have enough damage get through to kill them in one round, and his 3+/4++ saves aren't good enough to keep him alive through the return strikes.

 

If you send him in against an MSU unit of Primaris, he stands a very good chance of killing all of them in one turn. Full rerolls on hits and wounds is nasty on 7 attacks that deal 2 damage each.

 

He will also straight up murder any character that lacks an invuln save. Probably without even mussing his hair.

 

I use him as a key component of a herohammer group that usually includes a jump Libby and jump Chaplain. I'll sometimes send some Vanguard Veterans or Reivers with them if I feel like putting more eggs in that basket.

 

I typically don't make him the Warlord anymore, mostly because people are gunning for him in particular because he's good at killing characters.

[Dracos]

Definitely drop down with Inceptors T2 the threat alone seems to make an opponent nervous about adequate screen protection. Which is why the Aggressors (I am going to use Assault Centurions for this eventually I think) need to be effective T1 with Master of Ambush. Close enough to shot and clean the chaff out of an important objective midfield.

 

Shrike needs to strike where either there is t much support or it is going to be cleared out by another threat.

 

Can’t ever see him as the Warlord. It’s so easy to kill characters I want my warlord at range and buried deep in cover sniping away and buffing long range units

[Bluflash]

With his ridiculous movement stat and fly, you have a lot of wiggle room keep him out of LOS until he pounces. Add in the 1CP strat to advance and charge with +1 and his re-rolls for a very long range ambush. 14 + d6 (3.5) + 2d6 (7) Threat, re-rolling at +1. That's 24-25" of threat on average with the strat.

[MajorNese]

As said in a previous topic (no idea which one), I'd say he is the center of a mobile primaris list. His modus operandi would be rather similar to the possible doctrine stages:

 

First turn, buff the backfield gunline units.

Full reroll to hit is great for a gunline, but stellar for Auspex Scan. He in turn is protected by enough bodies - if you face sniper heavy lists, maybe deep strike instead.

If the army revolves around mobile units or Concealed Deployment (Invictors), move up first turn, buff stuff, and expand the T2+ reach.

If anything deep strikes next to the gunline, counter charge them.

 

Second turn, join any fast, Concealed Deployment or Deep Strike units.

In my case probably Inceptors all the way - S5 AP-2, 6 shots per model with 89% hit chance, at enough models that will have its impact. T5 3W with almost similar movement means that will turn into a mobile wrecking ball with 28" threat range (guns) and the ability to fall back and/or ignore terrain/screens.

 

If closing in on something that needs to be finished off, he's capable of that. Anything with a good invul would be an issue though, so we should be picky when it comes to targets. Sort of like 30k Alpharius, you don't go toe to toe with other beatsticks (and just die), but wipe out isolated units one after the other.

Shrike has +4" movement compared to the Inceptors (+2" compared to assault squads), and can advance and still charge with Strike from the Skies (IIRC) strat, meaning he can get over his own protection unit to charge stuff. And might still be in range of his squad to give charge rerolls.

 

Shrike's pistol might occasionally kill something, but I wouldn't count on it.

S4 is unreliable against non-characters, a damage potential of 4 and no way around invuls is not enough against most characters unless wounded before. Of course we should use it if possible, but risking Shrike or not advancing and charging is not worth a few shots.

 

As for the warlord trait - I do think his trait is worth the 1 CP. Especially when going in first, and to kill stuff that is otherwise too hard to deal with in overwatch (IH, Tau, flamers), which the rest of our army would struggle with. Also there is absolutely no harm in attempting a 12" charge, meaning we won't hesitate to declare them and (especially with his reroll) make more charges work in the end.

 

But making him the actual warlord has 2 issues IMO:

1. He is designed to go in and assassinate key characters/units. That exposes him in many cases, so we would hesitate to do it if we yield Slay the Warlord in the process. If he isn't the warlord, we can make more strategic decisions of his usage - keep back for another turn and buff stuff, or go all in, kill something vital, and maybe lose the reroll capacity for the remainder of the game.

 

2. If he is the warlord, it will draw a lot more fire from anti character stuff. That makes our opponent's target priority easy, and makes it harder for us to use his combat capabilities to the full extent - if he's already damaged, and the prime target, there's no way we'll risk him to assassinate something, in return for Shrike to be almost guaranteed to die.

 

Considering we have quite a few WL traits for deployment shenanigans (where it doesn't matter who is the one carrying it), my go-to solution would be to make a backfield captain/lt (Instigator/Ex Tenebris) the warlord, and pay a CP for Shrike to ignore overwatch.

Shrike goes to the midfield to buff those guys who give me board control and take out key units. Especially when going full primaris, that's a role no other character can fill even remotely, both in terms of speed and CC. All other solutions require CP (SftS), psychic powers (Shadowstep), chaplain buffs (+2" charge range) and WL traits, that's too many moving (or one-use) parts and factors. A lot of corners I can just cut when using Shrike - everything besides Strike from the Skies strat is inbuilt already.

[Claws and Effect]

Making Shrike the Warlord is usually a bad idea. I've given up Slay the Warlord very quickly in every game I've done it in.

 

However, giving him Hero of the Chapter to let him still have Shadowmaster is a solid plan.

 

I've been tinkering with a clump of characters that seems like it would work well together. Shrike, a jump Libby, and a jump Chaplain. With a second backfield Phobos Libby.

 

Plan is as follows: Put both Shrike and the jump Libby in deep strike reserve. Leave the jump Chaplain on the board out of LOS. Give the jump Libby the Imperium's Sword via HotC (or possibly Champion of Humanity or Iron Resolve). He'll have the overwatch denial power and Spectral Blade.

 

Jump Chaplain has Canticle of Hate. Shrike is Shrike.

 

Turn 2 the Libby and Shrike DS near what I want them to kill and the Chaplain is put in position via Shadowstep. Jump Libby shuts off overwatch and charges first, followed by the Chaplain and Shrike.

 

I'm additionally planning on running either Vanguard Veterans or Reivers with them.

 

The idea is to have a melee focused force in my opponents backline to disrupt things and take out the units that don't want to be in melee with them. Shrike is a key piece of that puzzle, but he's not necessarily the most important part.

[Brom MKIV]

Haven't tried shrike in this edition yet honestly. Not sure I will or not weird as that sounds. Maybe once I pick up the model. 

 

Things that appeal to me are his CM rerolls (lesser extent due to the nature of my lists) but more so his crazy high movement and reroll assault range honestly. I play against enough forward deployed units that MoA is often shut off from any real T1 shenanigans. In these instances I could see shrike relocating laterally to threaten t1 assault into anything not hugging the back of their DZ. More of a fill compulsory slot disruption missile that keeps their units from getting too complacent.