Nicodemus:
Week 8: Drazhoath the Ashen & Cinderbreath
Welcome to the eighth chapter in the Daemonsmith’s Handbook! Please post your tips and tactics for Drazhoath the Ashen and his mount, Cinderbreath, here.
Some suggested topics for discussion:
- Deployment
- Tactics
- Synergy with other units or strategies used by Legion of Azgorh
- Things to watch out for
- Usability and effectiveness vs. other choices for the army.
Da Crusha:
first of all I want to say that before attempting to write this synopsis I never really looked over Drazhoath the Ashen and Cinderbreath. in my circle of gamers we usually frown on using special characters. that being said I have looked him over and here are some of my observations.
Drazhoath the Ashen is a great value at 570 points. He is impossible to recreate using only common or chaos dwarf magic items so for comparative reasons I have listed similar magic items from other books to get a general idea of how much of a value he actually is. here is the point break down.
Level 4 Sorcerer Prophet riding a Bale Taurus = 525 pts
with this alone you can see that you only have 45 points left to spend on a normal prophet to get him to perform the way Drazhoath does (which is impossible, but here are other magic items to compare).
Dark Renown special ability (identical to Master Rune of Stromni Redbeard from the Dwarf army book, 100 pt value and can only be placed on a bsb)
Hellshard Amulet (identical to Talisman of Endurance from common magic items, 30 pt value. and a poorer version of Acid Ichor From warriors of chaos, a 15 pt value. since it is a poorer version I would value it at 5 pts.)
Deamonspite Crucible (similar (kind of) to Book of Ashur from the common magic items, a 70 point value)
The Graven Sceptre (an improved version of the Relic Sword from the common magic items, a 10 value. since it is improved I would value it at 20 points.)
+1 Weapon skill (a poorer version of Sword of striking from the common magic items, a 15 pt value. since it is poorer I would value it at 5 points)
+1 Wound (Identical to Rune of Fortitude from the Dwarf army book, a 50 point value.)
Cinderbreath’s S5 Breath Weapon rather than S4. (as far as I know there is no comparative pt value, although it is easy to see that a S5 breath weapon used in close combat is much better than S4)
as you can see, the value of all of these abilities and magic items are worth approximately 280 points, but only cost Drazhoath the Ashen 45 points.
Drazhoath the Ashen & Cinderbreath are an incredible value.
Time of Madness:
As Da Crusha pointed out Draz is great for his points, however I still prefer a Prophet on bale taurus for a couple of reasons.
- Regular prophets have the ability to choose a magic lore (fire, death, hashut and metal). I realize the lore of hashut is better when you have a flying character, but I still prefer a death mage flyer. The extra movement really lets the lore of death shine.
- The biggest reason I prefer the normal prophet over Draz is for the ability to pick up a 2+ followed by a 4+ ward save. Draz only has a 4+ and 5+ ward. I realize he has +1W, but I’d prefer the better saves.
Time of Madness
Bolg:
first of all I want to say that before attempting to write this synopsis I never really looked over Drazhoath the Ashen and Cinderbreath. in my circle of gamers we usually frown on using special characters.Well that summons it up nicely. And I have noting to add as I seriously dont like playing against or with special characters, nice for a friendly game maybe (but not against me please).
...
Drazhoath the Ashen & Cinderbreath are an incredible value.
Da Crusha
DAGabriel:
Nice summary, Da Crusha. I really have to put him on my xmas-list. Oh, btw, happy birthday!
Time of Madness:
Nice summary, Da Crusha. I really have to put him on my xmas-list. Oh, btw, happy birthday!Add him to your Christmas list, but use him as a regular Prophet on Bale Taurus. The model is great!
DAGabriel
Vogon:
I have the model but am yet to use him in a game (either as Drazhoath or a regular Prophet) as I’ve not been able to get a game big enough to use him in quite a while.
When I do I will certainly be using Drazhoath to see how he fairs in the game but only in friendlies where people know what they’re up against.
Cheers
Vogon
deadlydeceiver:
As I’m always quite interested in special chars and as they are very commonly used in my gaming group (commonly means several of our gamers never leave home without one - at last), I was very eager to see what good old Draz could do for me :hat off
At first I was very disappointed, but then did the math like Da Crusha and was surprised… just like you.
He has a lot of quite unique abilities and items BUT let’s see:
The Graven Scepter - I’d rather have a Darkforged Weapon
Hellshard Amulet - My General should have a 4+ WS and those S2-hits are a joke
WS5 and +1W - Nice, but I’d rather have a better AS
Dark Reknown - Nice addition, nothing more
Deamonspite Crucible and S5-Breath - Those are truly GREAT improvements
So IMHO we end up with an char with nice gear that we would never buy him and finally have the same problem as always with the BT:
Mount wants CC, rider wants to avoid it (Draz even more than the regular SP).
If I could improve him, his Sceptre would be a “Choose your ability”-Darkforged Weapon, the S2 hits would ignore ASs, he’d have a shield and Loremaster and I’d replace Dark Reknown with something more fitting - like preventing K’Daai from burning out (just a spontaneous idea).
Compared to other Special Chars Drazhoath is quite weak - along the Line of Settra, Eltharion, Malekith or Orion.
Nothing that could balance out one of the big players (Big T, Archaon, Fateweaver, etc…)… but that’s what the Destroyer is made for. :cheers
DD
BTW: I’m incredibly proud and happy that you chose my Draz for the exemlary pic, Nicodemus. Thanks a lot :hat off (and nice color correction ^^)
Nicodemus:
BTW: I'm incredibly proud and happy that you chose my Draz for the exemlary pic, Nicodemus. Thanks a lot :hat off (and nice color correction ^^)Thanks for not minding ;) I mined CDO for all of the Daemonsmith's Handbook icons, but wanted them all to fit more or less withing the same colour range, hence the slight enhancement of the reds/oranges/yellows, etc.
deadlydeceiver
propervillanz:
I like Drazhoath, though admittedly i have only used him twice. One of the best models in the game, nice value, and pretty decent abilities. I think he is best played in an army full of scary stuff (Destroyers, Hellcannons, Iron Deamons) so as to take pressure off of him and provide more tempting targets for enemy artillery. Run him along side a Destroyer and watch magic happen.
He is a great chaff clearer and the S5 breath weapon can really put a dent in just about any unit in the game. When coupled with Ash Storm it can clear a surprising amount of models off of the table.
True there are better builds that one can make on his/her own, but he has a pretty decent skill set. Use him to clear chaff, march block, take out enemy war machines, keep solo characters at bay, rear/flank charges, and lining up optimal S5 breath attacks.
He truly shines in Storms of Magic games when on an arcane fulcrum. Here he is the epitome of the immovable object, just wish he had access to cataclysm spells.