Spotlight: Malice

Mrs. Malice is an incredibly popular release. She is a character Helljack, based upon the Reaper, but Malice has increased power and accuracy with it's ranged attack. This is important, because the Reaper was already a great Helljack, and it's only problem was lacking power and accuracy. This is what people see, when they look at Malice, but I feel there's more to her, than simply being a better Reaper.

First of all we have a great set of abilities. The Battlecollege will handle the explanation of individual abilities, but many of them will need further explanation.

• Ghost Shield; Allows Malice to add a point of ARM for each soul she has.
• Soul Taker; Allows her to grab souls within 2", and keep three of them.
• Well of Souls; Allows her to start with one Soul.

This means a bit of added survivability, and the possibility of getting to Khador levels of ARM. It also means, that her primary ability is already primed when the game begins.

• Possession; When Malice slaps a Warjack with a functional Cortex, and spends a soul, it get's to full advance that Warjack, and make one attack with it. This is the ability most people notice first, because of the obvious synergy with the Withershadow Combine and Dark Industries.

We all know what Malice will be doing if you face a Warmachine list, but what do we do with our nine point lady, if we're fresh out of enemy warjacks, our Combine died, or we're simply playing against a Hordes army?

• Soul Taker; A Malice with a full complement of Souls and Focus, has a frightening amount of attacks. 

Have your Withershadow Combine grant Malice a re-roll, and have her reel in an enemy. The enemy will be Harpooned, and then clawed in the face up to seven times. This has the potential of doing very large amounts of damage, and applying even a single buff or debuff, takes Malice to "Heavy kill on average dice" territory.

• Death Claw; It's a Magical claw, and has the Open Fist icon.

While it's very rarely needed, having a Magical Open Fist can really mess things up. It means that incorporeal creatures cannot easily circumvent her, and she has a large base so she takes up a lot of ground. She can also throw things (even incorporeal ones), in case that ever becomes relevant. This is a very versatile Helljack, and getting those three souls makes her a huge threat on the field. You can load up on souls by granting her a few Focus and having her munch on nearby enemy Infantry, which also adds to her ARM, so she has a better chance at surviving the retaliation.

Malice: Dragging

Being able to drag models is great, but being able to do it reliably is fantastic. You don't need to kill that Warbeast, if pulling it away means open season on the enemy caster. You could also grab the enemy caster himself, and remember that a Warlock transfer will not stop the actual drag effect from taking place. Dragging an enemy Warlock away from his transfer targets, or the transfer target away from the Warlock, is also a funny way of getting a kill on a camping lock.

Malice: Support

Nothing; That's the beauty of it. Malice gets along fine on just one Focus. If your caster can't spare a Focus, you can always bring a Warwitch, and solve that particular issue.

Malice: Casters

Everyone. There's not a single Cryx caster, that does not benefit from bringing Malice, either because she does something for them, or they do something for her. Going through every caster would be pointless, but in general.

• Armor; Anyone with the ability to increase her ARM score.
• Offense; Anyone with the ability to increase her damage output.
• Range; Anyone that can increase her threat range.

We all know that Malice is Dark Industries easy mode, but knowing what else she can do, is key to always getting the most out of her. She's a support character, a tank, and a damage dealer all packed in one rather cheap package. What's not to like?