Finding the perfect 2000 pts Vyrkos list

[MKxJump]

PERFECTING 2000PTS

 

My goal is to try find what I think is the most optimal Vyrkos list. This is no easy feat as this army has a lot of amazing choices availible to it.

I've managed to narrow the list down to some core components, but it is making this gel into the perfect list that is the challenge set before us army builders.

CORE PICKS:

Belladamma Volga (200 pts) - This incredibly powerful auto-general is one of the best wizards availible to us that isn't Nagash. She also benefits from the Vyrkos ability (unlike Nagash) as she is a vampire. Definitely worth picking on any list.

Dire Wolves x10 (135 pts) - Neccessary cannon fodder for Belladamma, as she can transfer wounds to the unit. Bare in mind you will also need spare models for Belladamma's signature spell that turns enemies into a unit of Dire Wolves, as well as the ones you fied in this unit.

Grave Guard x20 w/ Great Wight Blades (280 pts) - These bad boys are our best summonable unit and can tear up opponents when they are benefiting from the Vyrkos ability that adds 1 to Wound rolls. Bare in mind they need to be within 9" of a Vampire Hero to gain this benefit so should be backed up by an appropriate hero. Belladamma countas for this, but it's worth it to have at least one other.

Necromancer (125 pts) - As we will be bringing Grave Guard to the fight, we might as well bring the best spell for them, Vanhel's Danse Macabre, which allows us to attack again in the combat phase. The Necromancer's signature spell is so potent that I think you'd be foolish not to bring him. That said, he will need back-up in the form of a big bloop of units that the necromancer can pair with to hold objectives.

 

At this point, we've spent 740 points but are still missing a few key pieces. We need still need 2 more battleline units, one of which needs to compliment our Necromancer, and we also need at least one more Vampire Hero.

 

VAMPIRE HEROES:

Our choices here are pretty varied and will depend entirely on what you need from this unit and how many points you are willing to spend. I'd like to take at least two from this list.

Vampire Lord (140 pts) - Our cheapest option here and certainly no slouch. The Command Ability offered by this Hero is great when paired with any large unit offeing +1s to Melee Attacks until the next Hero Phase. This also pairs beautifully with Vanhel's Danse Macabre meaning that both rounds of attacks are going to land in more damage. One issue though is how slow a Vampire Lord can be though. With only a move of 6" you might not always get this hero where it needs to be.

Vengorian Lord (280 pts) - Fast and fierce in combat, the Vengorian Lord offers a nice balance of melee prowess and magic. Able to buff allies wound vbalue with a spell and reduce the rend of enemies within 3". Plus, we get some nice healing too. The cheapest of our fast options when you need that Vyrkos aura to be where your Grave Guard are.

Radukar the Beast (315 pts) - Despite not being a wizard, this is still a great unit for hero for our army. He's fast, can summon a full unit of wolves for free once a game, and has fanatastic melee abilities. He'll be getting up close with our enemies, which is likely where your Grave Guard will find themselves too. This is right where you need him to be for them to benefit from the Vyrkos +1 to wound. Not to mention those extra wolves will help out Belladamma. On top of that, he can offer an 18" aura to units granting them +1 to melee attacks. All in all, 135 pts of free wolves, a better version of the Vampire Lords Command Ability, all on a fast and deadly hero.

Mannfred von Carstien (380 pts) - A massive 240 points more expensive that a Vampire Lord but also worth it for all his abilities. His command abilities grants +1 to hit and wound rolls for ALL friendly SBGL units within 12", plus adds a further +1 to attacks if he kills an enemy with his sword. Unlike the Vampire Lord, he doesn't suffer from a mobility issue either as he can teleport to wherever he wants to go at the start of the combat phase. Pretty nice if you need to go support another unit with his bonuses.

Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon (435 pts) - Speed was an issue with the Vampire Lord, so let's mount him on a Behemoth. This difference is not just to speed but damage output too. This one Hero can go around on a solo wrecking campaign whilst the rest of your army holds objectives. It can be anywhere on the map with ease making it easier to ensure your Grave Guards are getting that +1 to wound. Sadly, though, you won't get that same +1 to attack command ability as you would with a normal Vampire Lord. Instead, this bad boy is focused on damage.

Prince Vhordrai (455 pts) - What's better than a speed huge damage platform wizard? One that can deal more damage and make you other heroes get an additional fight action during the Hero Phase. This is probably the most expesive unit we will consider, but if you have another hero you can pair this with, the two can work together great and also offer another body to give your Deathrattle and Deathwalker units that handy +1 to wound.

 

NECROMANCER'S HORDE:

Deathwalker Zombies x20 (115 pts) - The cheapest and easiest pick. Fills a battleline slot whilst getting you a comfortable blob of models to benefit from the various auras and Command Abilities going around. These guys can multiply, deliver mortal wounds and hold objectives well. That do however have very little protection and fall over all too easily. You might argue you want more models in your main Necromancer-friendly Battleline though.

Deathrattle Skeletons x30 (255 pts) - If you want something a little more stubborn, with more models than the zombies above, you cannot do much better than a 30-large unit of Skeletons. When chosen to fight, you can roll to bring back fallen models in this phase. Vanhel's Danse Macabre let's us fight twice giving us two chances to resurrect fallen models. Having a blob of 30 makes this frighteningly effective for holding locations. I'd be reluctant to drop down to 20 models. If you want to do this, you ideally want to most Skeletons you can get which is to double reinforce up to 30.

Deathwalker Zombies x40 (230 pts) - If you want strength in numbers, the most cost effective way to achieve this is a massive horde of zombies. Twice the models, twice the fun. I hope you like painting. It's also worth noting this is both cheaper in points and the number of reinforcements used when compared to the skeletons. You lose a bit of surviability but you gain mortal wounds and more models.

 

From here, we have hopefully decided on our second battleline to compliment our Dire Wolves and added in more Heroes to our army. The remaining points will be needed to fill out the Battleline, take even more Vampire Heroes, or add some fast and/or agressive units to take objectives or join the fight.

 

BONUS PICKS:

Grave Guard x20 w/ Great Wight Blades (280 pts) - Maybe like me you really like Grave Guard, so why not take more? A second unit gives you even more of these undead warriors to rise from your grave sites and the mortal wounds they deliver can tear down even the mightest of foes.

Wight King (115 pts) - Here's the cheapest way to turn those Grave Guards we've been taking into a Battleline unit. Definitely a helpful thing to consider. Unlike chosing to go for a unit of 20 Zombies (which cost the same), the Wight King can buff Deathrattle units with his Command Ability and also is an additional hero when counting for Invigorating Aura and when given the Arcane Tomb, he is able to cast it himself. Plus, by choosing Ghost Mist, we can screen against shooting enemies and leave the Necromancer to cast Danse Macabre.

Wight King on Skeletal Steed (130 pts) - Same benefits as above, but A LOT faster and with 2 extra wounds and the ability to deal mortal wounds on a charge.

(it is worth noting that with the Wight King making Grave Guard a Battleline, you can reinforce them up to 30 models. This means we can return a unit of 15, not 10, with Endless Legions. This is worth considering and a unique selling point of the Wight King)

Blood Knights (195 pts) - Fast with a terrifying trambling ability that deals mortal wounds. They can heal with The Hunger and re-roll Deathless Minions w/ a Stnadard Bearer. If you can spare the points, this unit is a faction favourite.

Fell Bats (75 pts) - Fast, summonable and cheap. Good filler unit to chase objectives or screen from units or abilities. Better than just taking 10x Skeletons whilst being 10pts cheaper. Woth noting these do not count as Battleline.

Dire Wolves x10 (135 pts) - When in doubt and you need another Battleline, it's hard to go wrong with more wolves.

Deathwalker Zombies x20 (115 pts) - Needing another unit to be chaff or crawling out of gravesites? Or maybe you just want a cheap and effective batteline? These will do the job nicely.

 

Hopefully, by now, you've got a good idea for an army you want to try. If not, here's some sample lists below. I'm also curious which ones you manage to piece together.

 

SAMPLE ARMY 1: (2000 pts)

CORE:

Belladamma Volga (200 pts)

Dire Wolves x10 (135 pts)

Necromancer (125 pts)

Grave Guard x20 (280 pts)

VAMPIRE HEROES

Prince Vhordrai (455 pts)

Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon (435 pts) 

HORDE

Deathrattle Skeletons x30 (255 pts)

BONUS

Deathwalker Zombies x20 (115 pts)
or
Wight King (115 pts)

 

SAMPLE ARMY 2: (1995 pts)

CORE:

Belladamma Volga (200 pts)

Dire Wolves x10 (135 pts)

Necromancer (125 pts)

Grave Guard x20 (280 pts)

VAMPIRE HEROES

Mannfred von Carstein (380 pts)

Vampire Lord (140 pts) 

HORDE

Deathwalker Zombies x40 (230 pts)

BONUS

Deathwalker Zombies x20 (115 pts)

Blood Knights x5 (195 pts)

Blood Knights x5 (195 pts)

 

SAMPLE ARMY 3: (2000 pts)

CORE:

Belladamma Volga (200 pts)

Dire Wolves x10 (135 pts)

Necromancer (125 pts)

Grave Guard x30 (420 pts)

VAMPIRE HEROES

Radukar the Beast (315 pts)

Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon (435 pts) 

HORDE

Deathrattle Skeletons x30 (255 pts)

BONUS

Wight King (115 pts)

 

SAMPLE ARMY 4: (2000 pts)

 

CORE:

Belladamma Volga (200 pts)

Dire Wolves x10 (135 pts)

Necromancer (125 pts)

Grave Guard x20 (280 pts)

VAMPIRE HEROES

Prince Vhordrai (455 pts)

Vampire Lord (140 pts) 

HORDE

Deathrattle Skeletons x30 (255 pts)

BONUS

Wight King on Skeletal Steed (130 pts)

Grave Guard x20 (280 pts)

 

SAMPLE ARMY 5: (2000 pts)

CORE:

Belladamma (200 pts)

Dire Wolves x10 (135 pts)

Necromancer (125 pts)

Grave Guard x20 (280 pts)

VAMPIRE HEROES

Vengorian Lord (280 pts)

Vampire Lord (140 pts) 

HORDE

Deathwalker Zombies x40 (230 pts)

BONUS

Dire Wolves x10 (135 pts)

Grave Guard x20 (280 pts)

Blood Knights x5 (195 pts)

Edited December 8, 2021 by MKxJump

[Ravenborn]

Some great information in here, thanks! I’m currently figuring out what I want for my Vyrkos army, so your timing is perfect. 
 

Is Radukar the Wolf only available with the rest of the Cursed City unit?

Edited December 8, 2021 by Ravenborn

[MKxJump]

11 minutes ago, Ravenborn said:

Some great information in here, thanks! I’m currently figuring out what I want for my Vyrkos army, so your timing is perfect. 
 

Is Radukar the Wolf only available with the rest of the Cursed City unit?

You can use Radukar the Wolf, but you'd be better running a normal Vampire Lord instead, and it's 10 points cheaper.

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

4 hours ago, MKxJump said:

Necromancer (125 pts) - As we will be bringing Grave Guard to the fight, we might as well bring the best spell for them, Vanhel's Danse Macabre, which allows us to attack again in the combat phase. The Necromancer's signature spell is so potent that I think you'd be foolish not to bring him. That said, he will need back-up in the form of a big bloop of units that the necromancer can pair with to hold objectives.

Personally, I am not so hot on the Necromancer anymore. His warscroll spell is good, but his casting ability is really bad. Getting off a 6+ spell against an unbind with no casting bonus or reroll (which he does not get in Vyrkos since he's not a VAMPIRE), is almost exactly a coin flip. In a support role for Grave Guards, I personally don't like that him at all. He's too slow and his durability comes at the cost of Grave Guard bodyguards. He doesn't even give them +1 to wound in Vyrkos since, again, not a VAMPIRE.

In Vyrkos, I would rather bring the Vampire Lord. He's faster and flies (which is relevant if you want to start the Grave Guard in the grave), and his buff is more reliable. In Vyrkos, you can give him Pack Alpha, so he can spam his Crimson Feast command for free. 20 Great Weapon Grave Guard with +1 attack and +1 to wound already kill everything, they don't need to fight twice. Plus, you can currently use the Crimson Feast in the opponent's combat phase and keep stacking +1 attack buffs (although maybe not much longer, depending on what the FAQ brings).

Where I like the Necromancer is in support of a block of 30 Skeletons. Because there his spell does something you can't easily replicate otherwise, which is to let them heal twice per combat phase. I would also give the Necromancer an Arcane Tome in that situation, so that he can further boost the defensive potential of the Skeletons with Overwhelming Dread/Fading Vigor and maybe bait out some unbinds.

[MKxJump]

9 hours ago, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

Where I like the Necromancer is in support of a block of 30 Skeletons. 

Absolutely. That's why I speak about having a Horde unit in the list. Necromancer with 30 Skeletons is such a solid defensive unit

[oggurt_da_bog_zombie]

11 hours ago, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

Personally, I am not so hot on the Necromancer anymore. His warscroll spell is good, but his casting ability is really bad. Getting off a 6+ spell against an unbind with no casting bonus or reroll (which he does not get in Vyrkos since he's not a VAMPIRE), is almost exactly a coin flip. In a support role for Grave Guards, I personally don't like that him at all. He's too slow and his durability comes at the cost of Grave Guard bodyguards. He doesn't even give them +1 to wound in Vyrkos since, again, not a VAMPIRE.

In Vyrkos, I would rather bring the Vampire Lord. He's faster and flies (which is relevant if you want to start the Grave Guard in the grave), and his buff is more reliable. In Vyrkos, you can give him Pack Alpha, so he can spam his Crimson Feast command for free. 20 Great Weapon Grave Guard with +1 attack and +1 to wound already kill everything, they don't need to fight twice. Plus, you can currently use the Crimson Feast in the opponent's combat phase and keep stacking +1 attack buffs (although maybe not much longer, depending on what the FAQ brings).

Where I like the Necromancer is in support of a block of 30 Skeletons. Because there his spell does something you can't easily replicate otherwise, which is to let them heal twice per combat phase. I would also give the Necromancer an Arcane Tome in that situation, so that he can further boost the defensive potential of the Skeletons with Overwhelming Dread/Fading Vigor and maybe bait out some unbinds.

I'm also pretty skeptical on the Necromancer (as we've chatted about in the main Soulblight thread), particularly because if he can't get Vanhel's to go off, he's basically useless. Soulblight has so many other better casters, so really just need the Necromancer to cast Vanhel's or one of his debuffs (or both if you give him the Arcane Tome).

One thing I'm going to experiment with is running the Necromancer with an Unholy Lodestone Corpse Cart, big block of zombies, and a unit of Grave Guard. The Corpse Cart is there for the +1 to cast and giving the zombies a 6+ save, and the zombies are obviously to help keep the Necromancer alive and provide a big screen. Then I'd almost always put the Grave Guard in reserve and pop them out at a Grave Site within 18" of the Necromancer, and then in the next hero phase, cast Vanhel's on the GG.

That being said, the Vampire Lord is usually more reliable for buffing up Grave Guard. As I've probably said before, Vanhel's on GG is great but a lot of times GG end up fighting something that can hit back really hard, so after losing a bunch of models, their second attack can be kinda wimpy. The Vamp Lord's CA makes that first attack hit real hard, especially in Vyrkos. My issue with the Vampire Lord is he is an easy snipe and MW target, whereas the Necromancer can shrug wounds to his zombie buddies. So lately I've been trying to make a Necromancer work again. Maybe I'm just overly paranoid as there seems to be a ton of shooting in my local, but I go back and forth on the Necromancer or Vampire Lord topic all the time. Obviously I could just run both, but at 125 and 140 points, it almost always seems better to make one or the other work, and spend those points on more GG or other battleline.

[Liquidsteel]

I guess the question is, do you NEED the skeletons? Especially if you are already covering your battleline. I really want to like them, but they feel kind of wasted in the current meta, especially with the options we have in general.

30 Skellies with a Necromancer in support is 380 points for 35 wounds with a 5+ save that rely on an unreliable spell caster and to be attacked in Melee to get the most use out of.

For 390 points you could have 2 x 5 Blood Knights which is 30 wounds on a 3+ save that can actually do damage and have more speed and can act independently, or you take another 20 Grave Guard as you said and have some spare change.

Ultimately the answer is always "it depends", but right now I can't justify skeletons in the list.

 

[Neil Arthur Hotep]

1 hour ago, Liquidsteel said:

I guess the question is, do you NEED the skeletons? Especially if you are already covering your battleline. I really want to like them, but they feel kind of wasted in the current meta, especially with the options we have in general.

30 Skellies with a Necromancer in support is 380 points for 35 wounds with a 5+ save that rely on an unreliable spell caster and to be attacked in Melee to get the most use out of.

For 390 points you could have 2 x 5 Blood Knights which is 30 wounds on a 3+ save that can actually do damage and have more speed and can act independently, or you take another 20 Grave Guard as you said and have some spare change.

Ultimately the answer is always "it depends", but right now I can't justify skeletons in the list.

 

I love skeletons, but I can't deny that a large reason why I have them in my lists is "I don't want to paint 40 zombies right now".

They have some upsides even compared to other options. A cheap is battleline horde is never going to be bad bad, but it's debateable whether their niche is worth it right now. I see them being the closest thing to a battleline anvil/tarpit in Gravelords that actually has enough bodies to exert objective pressure as a niche that is just barely worth it. But it's undeniable at the same time that I had to go several layers deep here, because there are other, potentially better units even in the battleline anvil category (Direwolves).

I'd like skeletons to get more reliable recovery. If they could heal any casualties inflicted in the same turn, rather than just the combat phase, I think they'd be more clearly worth it.

 

Speaking of Direwolves, though, there is a Vyrkos gimmick that is still missing from this thread, which is to rocket 30 Direwolves up the board into the opponent's deployment zone turn 1 with Driven by Deathscent and Belladamma's command ability. Well, I call it a gimmick, but it really isn't. It's genuinely hard to deal with that amount of bodies and wounds for a lot of armies even if they know the strategy is coming. You just don't see it that often because nobody has 30 wolves.

[AverageBoss]

I think consideration should also be given to Gorslav. He can be a pretty big boost for hordes, which we really like.

[Jaskier]

On 12/10/2021 at 1:04 AM, Neil Arthur Hotep said:

Speaking of Direwolves, though, there is a Vyrkos gimmick that is still missing from this thread, which is to rocket 30 Direwolves up the board into the opponent's deployment zone turn 1 with Driven by Deathscent and Belladamma's command ability. Well, I call it a gimmick, but it really isn't. It's genuinely hard to deal with that amount of bodies and wounds for a lot of armies even if they know the strategy is coming. You just don't see it that often because nobody has 30 wolves.

I've done something similar with teleporting Chaos Warriors and Sayl before. The Dire Wolf version of the 'wall' list is better as it's not reliant on random rolls and can get much closer to zone off movement, and the 6" pile-in is an incredible ability for pulling it off; the trick is not to charge but to get within 6" for the 2.9" tap to minimize return damage on that first turn. You don't even need to be Vrykos for it to work (these command traits - free 3" move for Deadwalkers, or the free command each turn - and/or the 18" 6++ aura artifact would be the main reasons) as Belladamma's command + auto-run 6" is a guaranteed 22" (or 25" with the aforementioned trait) 'tap' bubble, which on this editions' smaller boards is harder to avoid unless the opponent really wants to choke themselves out of hitting the midfield.

Slap Mystic Shield on them before they run off and save some CP (that Vrykos free command use from the general helps a lot) for potential All Out Defence and Inspiring Presence uses on themselves and you're set; casting Levitate on them helps too (Vrykos will boost your chances of this) but won't usually be necessary unless you've got impassable terrain on the board. The best part is that once they die, you'll ideally get 15 of them back via Endless Legions just to clog up a side and/or give more bodies for Belladamma to palm wounds onto. It's obviously a very matchup dependent trick - some armies flat out don't care about the wall or will punch through it immediately, and the tactic often relies on going first - but the dogs are so efficient defensively and mobile enough that you should always get value out of them, even if it's just to keep things away from the middle or act as a screen for bigger things. 

Edited December 15, 2021 by Jaskier