Perseus : Monster Slayer [HER]

A bit of a weird sculpt - but he has very useful powers and talents.
His main power may cost you 2 AoW cards - but in a group of enemies they need 2 cards (AoW and activation card) to be able to activate again - per unit!. Not sure if Perseus is allowed to attack and petrify a petrified unit again but I guess that would be OP (that way Perseus and Medusa could effectively take Typhon out of the game).
Furthermore he's very good versus monsters (immune to monster talents and powers and "may re-roll up to 2 dice when it is attacking a Monster") and still has a decent 7/8 setup.

His only weakness is the 6 vitality, which is extremely low for a 4RP unit.
And don't pick him as 1st choice; he's rather easy to counterdraft (by picking just heroes)!

Seems to me he is a good hero to either force the enemy to spread their forces or petrify many at once by stepping in their area. And after that you could pay an art of war card to attack again, striking at a petrified unit. Either with Perseus if its a monster, or with someone good against heroes if Perseus managed to petrify whoever was drafted to counter him.

His main concern would be enemies that he cant petrify.

When looking through the many powers of various monsters, it only makes it more clear how usefull Perseus truly is.

Due to initiative and monster slayer, he does a 9 dice attack against any creature before they can respond. It might not kill them, but it seems enough to weaken them to a point they deal less damage or can't use a special ability anymore.

Depending on what creature you are dealing with, this can be huge. Especially against one of those powerfull guard creatures that someone might have protecting their god.

Due to his low health it seems best to not have him in the front lines though, seems better to let other tougher units attack first, and let him jump in during the fight so that there will be less attention on him.

That guard ability might still be usefull though since he also has initiative. Allows him to guard his god very well against any creature, and still pretty descent against other units.

Monster Slayer
This unit may re-roll up to 2 dice when it is attacking a Monster.

This means Perseus still only rolls 7 dice against monsters, not 9 dice.

Oh my mistake, I thought monster slayer was two extra dice against monsters.

Rhalius wrote:When looking through the many powers of various monsters, it only makes it more clear how usefull Perseus truely is. Depending on what creature you are dealing with, this can be huge. Especially against one of those powerful guard creatures that someone might have protecting their god.

That guard ability might still be usefull though since he also has initiative. Allows him to guard his god very well against any creature, and still pretty descent against other units.

Well .. without the Hera expansion you can't counter monsters as easily as with Perseus. It stays limited to picking units with Monster Slayer - but none is immune to monster abilities like Perseus. The mere presence of Perseus will make your opponent think twice before picking a lot of monsters (if not the lack of AoW cards stops him).

I don't think he will be worth taking against an army without monsters or with just 1 small one. His petrify is nice but 3 monsters also have it, with more STR or other useful skills. And for the 4RP Perseus costs you, you can take a far better Guard, like Campe, Talos or Geryon.

Funny though that the best counter units are in expansions:
* Diomedes (Gods/titans) in Troy,
* Paris and Ketos (heroes) in Troy/stand-alone,
* Perseus (monsters) in Hera

First about the mini : that's a mean-looking stance ! I don't know if it is easy to get confused on the board but this looks like a mini you'll instantly recognize !
It looks like a sculpt so I guess we will have a shot of the resin/plastic when it is ready. But it looks quite nice as it is.

About the unit : Perseus is indeed a weak-vitality unit so I guess you should take extra care if you don't want to loose your 4-RPs... (but 8 defense is good)
It is definitely a nasty monster-killer. There is a number of dangerous monster power (Ketos coming to mind fist) and immunity to charging or other powers is very precious.
I see Perseus as a good counter-pick like Diomedes versus gods.

2 AoW : that is the only unit that provides the cards to use it's Petrify power.
Very mobile (2), Initiative : I can see him going to the front row, either attack or Petrify (or both) and grab Omphalos.
I don't know how to put the Guard talent to good use however.

So it seems like a very versatile unit but a bit costly. Select it if the opponent(s) has some big monsters.

Teowulff wrote:Not sure if Perseus is allowed to attack and petrify a petrified unit again but I guess that would be OP (that way Perseus and Medusa could effectively take Typhon out of the game).

I don't see why it would not be possible. It is very AoW-expensive however.

Rhalius wrote:And after that you could pay an art of war card to attack again, striking at a petrified unit.

AFAIK, you may attack after having petrified the other units.
The power symbol is not a lightning so it doesn't replace your attack.
(same for Medusa and the Basilisk)

However, the rules forbids from paying an AoW to activate the same unit twice.

Rhalius wrote:Due to initiative and monster slayer, he does a 9 7 dice attack against any creature before they can respond. It might not kill them, but it seems enough to weaken them to a point they deal less damage or can't use a special ability anymore.

Actually, I am not quite sure about this.
From what I have seen, it seems units lose their Powers only when they are about to die (1 or 2 Vitality). And Attacks and Defense are indeed lowered but quite slowly (so 1 or 2 points if they are greatly injured). That's good but not enough to shield you from their attack.
However, injured units are loosing range and movement and that can be more crippling !

Party reports would be interesting about this.

It wouldn't need to be Perseus who attacks who he petrified though, it's a good way to aid his allies.

Perseus seems like a good team player. If someone recruits some powerfull 5 point monster with devastating abilities he seems like a solid counter draft either way.

Especially against monsters with strong passive abilities he seems vital. Where his allies would be instantly attacked when entering their area, Perseus could walk in and ignore that, and petrify those in the area. And then an ally could attack them while having the advantage.

Telgar wrote:

Rhalius wrote:Due to initiative and monster slayer, he does a 9 7 dice attack against any creature before they can respond. It might not kill them, but it seems enough to weaken them to a point they deal less damage or can't use a special ability anymore.

Actually, I am not quite sure about this.
From what I have seen, it seems units lose their Powers only when they are about to die (1 or 2 Vitality). And Attacks and Defense are indeed lowered but quite slowly (so 1 or 2 points if they are greatly injured). That's good but not enough to shield you from their attack.
However, injured units are loosing range and movement and that can be more crippling !

Party reports would be interesting about this.

Actually, since 10 is the maximum attack/defense value, reducing it by 1 or 2 is a pretty big deal (and usually only takes 1 or 2 wounds to happemn in a lot of cases). The point is, weakening an enemy unit by any amount while completely ignoring its abilities is a fantastic thing to be able to do.

I believe the other units that can petrify can't do it as freely as Perseus can because I don't think any of them can ignore talents and abilities like that of anyone.

Of course Perseus can only ignore those of monsters when it applies to him, but it seems monsters seem to have such crippling abilities far more often.

Gorgon on the other hand can fly so that gives her a good use too, and Medusa is a good archer who can climb.

I really like how they gave those petrifying units all their own strenghts.