Hey Wild here, and with a bit of a hiatus both here and from Legion (Played Skorne and Convergence for a bit), I decided on Legion of Everblight for MkIII. Just like Kirby I’ll be going over initial impressions and how they feel compared to MkII. However this is with War Room in my hands so this is all from official cards.

Absylonia, Daughter of Everblight – So…she really didn’t change much. Her entire statline didn’t change from MkII however her tail now has a melee range of 1″. Conferred Rage has been renamed to Alpha Hunter for her. The most noticeable change is the loss of teleport, and she instead has gained the spell Hex Bolt, the same spell that the Hex hunters have, and Reposition 5″. Out of everyone in the game she is easily the most able to make use of the Reposition rule, which is effectively what Light Cavalry used to have, allowing models to move at the end of an activation as long as they don’t run or fail a charge. Her feat remains the same as does Psycho Surgery, Return Fire, and a renamed Fortify to Bracer. She is still one of the premier beast casters of Legion, and should remain virtually unchanged from her MkII incarnation. Oh and she lost Abomination since that’s not a thing anymore.

Absylonia, Terror of Everblight – Unlike her Epic Counterpart Absylonia1 has seen a lot of change. She is no longer the same speed or defensive stats as the rest of Legion. Now with an even statline of 15/15 and being slower, her own abilities have changed as well. Her Blight Claws are no longer a Critical Effect which is a bit of a boon, and she kept Warping Strength and a renamed Flight to Wings. She has instead lost Reach for the new warp Ashen Veil, granting her a bit of concealment and the same defensive statline with Tenacity in MkII in a number of situations now. Wings now in addition to Flight gives her back her +1 SPD she lost, which admittedly is a bit disappointing. Her feat remains unchanged except she doesn’t need to punch herself to remove damage from her warbeasts, but she’s now susceptible to Grievous Wounds even under her feat. Forced Evolution is the only spell that remains from her MkII form, as her other two spells were changed or replaced with other spells. She now has Wild Aggression to make a warbeast fury efficient, Aggravator to accelerate her Warbeasts into combat from being shot at, and an offensive spell Blight Burst, replacing her Blight Field. It no longer prevents focus allocation but can still otherwise prevent forcing and focus spending from non-warcaster models. She has to an extent improved and Legion Warbeasts appreciate the use of Wild Aggression, with Fury Efficiency being hurt this edition anything will help.

Bethayne, Voice of Everblight & Belphagor – Holy….she changed a LOT. Only Meld and the spell Blood Thorn remain intact. Her armor improved….barely. Her melee weapons remain unchanged and….that’s all that’s the same. She now has four new spells and a nasty feat that all scream combined arms with warbeasts and infantry. The spell Cloak of Ash grants Ashen Veil, Disintegration is her new expensive nuke that adds an additional option to enhancing damage potential to a singular target with -2 ARM, Venom is still the acidic spray from Cryx, and she has a unique spell in Invocation of Blood. If melded with Belphagor it enhances its SPD, STR, DEF, and ARM, or if not melded she starts walking to Belphagor. It’s a once per activation spell but very cheap. Her feat now gives warrior models Flank [Friendly Faction Warbeast]. To summarize how horrifying this ability is, send in two Scytheans to engage and then Swordsmen with a bonus to hit and then 5 dice on damage. As low as their PS normally is, the fact they have that many dice on damage means something will die or break horribly. This can easily be applied to Warmongers, Warspears, and combined with the gargantuan Blight Bringer’s own abilities, will make her combined arms list a terrifying prospect once in melee.

Kallus, Wrath of Everblight – Still hits hard, still heals, still hard to kill, same spells, altered feat. He now has +3 DEF instead of +2 DEF for soulless models for Host of Angels. There isn’t much else to say, he’s as dangerous as he was during MkII, and with the improved melee ranges his army is innately better in MkIII but the loss of hit boxes makes some popular builds worse as well. More on that once the units are talked about.

Kryssa, Conviction of Everblight – The new Battle Box warlock, she’s a bit slow compared to everyone else, but she was a Legionnaire. Her defensive stats as similar as well, as is having Set Defense and Critical Sustained Attack. She also has Cloak of Ash and the spell Tactical Supremacy which has changed on everyone to Reposition 3″. This is the same as Abyslonia’s but shorter and can be applied to a unit once they finish their activation. Her other two spells are Quickness which is the same as Velocity but in Hordes, moving her up the field as far as 6″, and the spell Howling Flames, an expensive Flamethrower with Fire to add on. Her feat is a big Force Multiplier for her army, whether its warbeasts, her troops, or herself on an assassination run. It’s hard to say what to expect from her in larger games, but she’s another combined arms type of warlock for sure.

Lylyth, Herald of Everblight – Another warlock who didn’t change all that much. She can now gain prowl to help hide herself from a number of ranged attacks, and Hellsinger has 3 arrow-types now, two of which are her old abilities Blood Lure and Witch Mark. The third is Inflict Pain, and she, as well as her Epic Forms, benefits greatly from the Nephilim Bolt Thrower’s new animus Snipe. She’s probably going to stick to just Blood Lure and Witch Mark, with using Inflict Pain just to make sure there’s one less transfer target if at all needed. Same feat, same spells. Oh and Hellsinger is now ROF 2 meaning she just shoots twice, no spending of Fury.

Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight – This Lylyth however….she changed a lot. Whisper still has to buy shots and she did keep Snap Fire. Her abilities didn’t change, though she kept Stealth, but her spell and feat sure did! Only Pin Cushion stayed. She now has instead Mirage which grants Apparition for a 2″ placement, and Soothing Song to help manage her stable of Warbeasts since Shepards have gotten smacked. Her feat no longer gives snipe, which is why Bolt Throwers have it as an animus of self. Feat still gives an additional shot and Gunfighter is now included, and its given to everyone in her control not just Warbeasts for both effects. Still dangerous, just not Top of 2 Assassination dangerous.

Lylyth, Reckoning of Everblight – Good news, pre-deployment is gone. Bad news, same shitty spell list. Hew new changes otherwise put her in a strange new spot. While still very fast her bow has a ROF of 3 and can shoot behind her. She can still make melee attacks with her mount and is one of the few models allowed to charge with the mount. She lost the thresher blades but rules allow her to make trample attacks at the same damage as before. She has reposition 5″ so she is a mobile artillery piece with a Bolt Thrower in her army. The feat also changed to make enemy models stationary now on direct hits by friendly faction models in her control area., removing completely the old Death Chill from the game.

So with this first half of the Warlocks in Legion of Everblight it looks to be 3 distinct playstyles in MkIII: Beast-heavy, Combined Arms, and Ranged. Absylonia in both incarnations still bring a strong package of utility to her warbeasts, capable of increasing both accuracy and damage output at a given moment. In particular Proteus, to be covered later, has gained useful synergy with her abilities to remove infantry trivially. Bethayne and Kryssa on the other hand it feels like they prefer a mixed package of infantry and warbeasts. While the infantry is still below average compared to other armies by themselves, both warlocks are capable of supporting them for increased damage when partnered with the Warbeasts in Legion. Kallus is one of the few however still able to bring out the brick-style list that Legion isn’t normally used to fielding, but he does it very well with the changes to Legionnaires. Sadly his weaknesses are very much still the same as before, so it’s tough to see where he will be with the overall loss of hitpoints in the Blighted Ogrun heavy infantry. All 3 Lylyths on the other hand are still the Queen of ranged, though once again Lylyth2 feels like she’ll come out the strongest, capable of putting the most fear into the enemy. It just won’t be as far across the board as the previous edition, and that’s a good thing. Close Quarters combat was always an issue for Lylyth2 and the changes to her feat allow her to be much more capable at those short distances. Lylyth1 and Lylyth3 meanwhile will still want to keep their distance, and it’ll be tough to see how Lylylth3 will handle the changes to her increased mobility while still being a Battle Engine. Out of everyone a keen sense of placement will be critical for her, since she will need a lot of clear paths. The other half of the article will cover Thagrosh, Vayl, and the Twins, and that is where the meat of changes lie for the Legion army. Lylyth2 was just a preview.