Introduction:
In death, her appetites have grown. Despite her defeat at the hands of Major Haley, Deneghra has returned after some minor surgery to once again lead the forces of her master, Lich Lord Asphyxious. Her spell list has changed from being the master of debuffs and now works to exert massive board control and maintain superior mobility over her opponent. Instead of acting as the master assassin, she now works to systematically dissect her opponent's army.
Deneghra's stats remained unchanged from her original incarnation. She retains not only her high SPD and DEF but also her weak MAT and ARM. We also see the return of her Witch Barbs, granting her the ability to dance out of combat without eliciting free strikes and negate the back strike bonus of her foes. Her most obvious difference is the addition of Wraith Walker. After having her soul wrenched free by the Orgoth cairn, Deneghra developed the ability to become incorporeal every other round. While incorporeal she may cast spells, but she cannot charge, and she loses incorporeal if she makes a melee attack. Her incorporeal status grants her the ability to easily tread over rough terrain or through other models and acts as a layer of protection, making her invulnerable to all attacks except for feats and spells.
Strengths:
Web of Shadow: Wraith Witch Deneghra's greatest strength is her feat, rooting enemies to the ground and enforcing a -3DEF penalty. This helps the Cryx army exploit their superior mobility more than ever, allowing the opportunity to set up charge lanes and attacks for subsequent rounds. The DEF penalty also covers the weakness of Cryx's oft-inferior MAT and RAT stats. During her feat round, one should seek to render an opponent’s army nearly useless. Engage ranged units and jacks with melee troops with reach. Establish avenues of attack for the following round to eliminate key units and solos. If a model/unit cannot be neutralized in other ways, make them incorporeal via Tenebrous Exile, preventing them from making attacks against your army. Also, remember that Web of shadows does not prevent placement effects like Flash or Deneghra's own Dark Banishment.
Control Spells: Tenebrous Exile, Marked for Death, and Harrowing form the Wraith Witch's control arsenal. Tenebrous Exile can be used to deny a unit their attacks or to open charge lanes to models that your opponent thought were protected. When denying attacks, look to neutralize powerful counter charge threats like Man-o-War Demolition Corps or units that cannot be dealt with in conventional ways like Holy Zealots with Greater Destiny. On must be careful with Tenebrous Exile, however, since it also serves to enhance the enemy unit's mobility. Allowing your opponent to run through your army to flank it from behind is not the best use of this spell.
Marked for Death is often misused in an attempt to force an opponent to attack their own jacks or troops. Since it requires LoS and a 10" range, its just too easy for an opponent to avoid the spell altogether on one of their own models by moving it out of sight or out of the way. Marked for Death serves a much better purpose as a defense mechanism. The ideal choice for Marked for Death is one of your own models with high armour, high defense, and multiple wounds. Deathrippers fulfill 2 of these requirements and only cost 38 points. Placing the marked bonejack within a few inches of models you want to protect will deny your opponent the ability to fully unleash his attacks on those models. To make your opponent’s task even harder, place the bonejack on a hill or in a smoke cloud.
It's important to remember that Harrowing has 2 components. The first is to try to force units who are not fearless to run and the second is to force units to bunch up. Most units in Warmachine are either fearless or can easily become fearless, but the second option that forces units that function optimally when spread out to lose much of their punch. Such units include cavalry, bile thralls, zealots, and trenchers to name a few. Arcing Harrowing onto a Priest or Monolith bearer who is "kited" far behind the unit can dull their teeth nearly as well as Tenebrous Exile can.
Damage Spells: Venom and Hellmouth nicely complement Deneghra's control spells. Venom is the same fantastic spell it's always been. With a focus stat of 7 and spray, Deneghra can hit multiple targets for just 2 focus. Single-wound models that do not succumb to the power 10 damage roll are likely to die the following round to corrosion. Hellmouth is her new toy in this department. It costs twice as much as Venom, so it should only be used when its unique strengths can be brought to bear. One nice feature of Hellmouth is that it affects targets that are surprisingly well spaced out. Against a large-based initial target, the effect can be similar to an eight inch AOE after resolving the drag effects. Some Hellmouth tricks include picking on low defense targets to pull in higher defense ones around it or using this spell to pull models off of control points. One other nice effect is that hellmouth removes the models from play, denying casters like the High Reclaimer from bringing them back. The power 12 damage roll ensures that most troops pulled into hellmouth's AOE will perish. Even against fairly low DEF targets, do not be afraid to boost Hellmouth's attack roll. You've already invested 4 focus, do not let it go to waste by missing. Unlike conventional AOE effects, Hellmouth does not deviate on a failed attack roll.
Mobility: Wraith Walker and Predation grant Epic Deneghra far more mobility than the average warcaster. Wraith Walker is often best used in conjunction with Web of Shadows to maximize her defense and mobility. Incorporeal allows her to walk straight forward through her troops to catch as many enemies as possible. Her incorporeal nature at this time also means she only has little to fear in terms of retaliation. If she keeps her distance from arc nodes and magic users, only feats will be able to hurt her.
Predation can also help capitalize on Epic Deneghra’s mobility. This spell can be used in the early game to help move Deneghra further up the field to catch more enemies in her feat or can be used as a safety measure to escape from threats since she can move before the attack is made.
Weaknesses:
Vulnerability: Deneghra’s greatest weakness is her ARM14. Even while Incorporeal, she is still vulnerable to enemy warcasters as well as other spell users like Alexia or Greylords. Under an effect like Blood Legacy, a unit of Greylords has remarkable odds of returning Deneghra to the dead. Her vulnerability is further emphasized by how many of her abilities rely on close proximity to the enemy. Dark Banishment, Critical Flay, and Dark Allure all require her to put herself in harm’s way, and two of the three cannot even be used in conjunction with Wraith Walker. This is not to say that these abilities are intrinsically bad. Dark banishment, for example, offers the ability to teleport a key model into the waiting grasp of Deneghra’s thralls or away from the heat of battle. Over-reliance upon such abilities, however, is a sure way to get the Wraith Witch killed.
CMD-related abilities: Deneghra’s command-related abilities are not an actual weakness but warrant a word of caution in light of her vulnerability. It seems that Wraith Witch Deneghra is intended to work well as a seductress. Her Dark Allure ability combines with her Dark Seduction spell to offer some interesting choices for the Wraith Witch. In conjunction with Captain Rengrave or Boomhowler, the target’s CMD penalty could be -4 or even -6. This sounds great in theory but is much harder to apply in practice. Often, targets will be within the CMD range of a Commander or Warcaster, negating one or even all of your CMD debuffs while Dark Allure leaves Deneghra dangerously close to your opponent’s army. The bottom line is that it is very risky to rely on this ability. Even if you’re fortunate enough to find a unit separated from any field officers, you are still depending on the luck of the dice. Your vulnerability along with 4-5 points of focus may still be risked in vain.
Limited Support: Those use to War Witch Deneghra will quickly notice the removal of her numerous support options. No longer can the combination of a Parasite here, a Crippling Grasp there, and The Withering lay waste to entire swathes of enemy forces when you pull off a Death Raged, Ghost Walked Purge. No, the Wraith Witch must choose enemy targets with a more precise hand. Web of Shadows is a powerful DEF debuff, but beyond that, her troops are largely on their own.
Army Composition:
Bonejacks: Wraith Witch Deneghra does not typically cast a large number of spells per turn and therefore does not require as many arc nodes as War Witch Deneghra. Two or so Nightwretches grant you POW14 AOEs and arc nodes while two or so Deathrippers make great Marked for Death targets. Helldivers are another Marked for Death option, trading a point of DEF for more ARM and a better damage grid. Stalkers are another possible option with their higher defense. However, they are rarely worth the points as a MfD target as they will lose their stealth ability.
Helljacks: The Deathjack increases Deneghra’s overall focus, allowing her to cast more spells over the course of a game. It also gives her a powerful offensive tool, a vital aspect of the army since she no longer has any armour debuffs.
Units: Bane Knights and Bile Thralls are both a great fit with the Wraith Witch. Bane Knights provide some offensive punch with their weapon master ability while Reach allows them to engage melee and ranged targets with little fear of retaliation during Web of Shadows. Web of Shadows also makes their attack rolls far more reliable or allows them to get into place to deliver a devastating charge attack the following round. Since Bane Knights are immune to freestrikes, they can even disengage from combat the next turn to charge targets further up the field in your opponent’s army. Bile Thralls have always been exceptional troop removers but suffer from a slow movement in comparison to other troops. Web of Shadows can almost grant them one free turn of movement in order to maximize the effects of Purge.
Solos: Tartarus and Pistol Wraiths both tend to be a good fit with Deneghra. Dark Shroud and Reach is a great ARM debuff in an army largely void of ARM debuffs. Beckon, Curse, and Death Toll vastly improve your Bane Knights, and Commander helps protect against that annoying tramp Alexia. Pistol Wraiths are good, as always, at picking off key unit leaders and solos, but they also provide a small passive benefit when using Wraith Walker. Dealing with one wraith is easy. Dealing with a handful forces a player to make some tough choices. A Skarlock thrall can be good for throwing out Marked for Death at the end of a turn to help protect key targets, but this model is not quite as necessary as he is with some Cryx warcasters.
Mercs: Bokurs provide some cheap offensive power. Their client-boosted P+S15s can go a long way towards dealing with heavier ARM targets. Gorman is a nice multi-purpose merc capable of either reducing Deneghra’s vulnerability via some smoke bombs or through weakening an opposing warjack with a rust bomb.
Summary:
Wraith Witch Deneghra works to maximize her army’s mobility while limiting her opponent’s offensive options. Her support options are fairly limited, however, and she has minimal ability to eliminate models with high ARM. It becomes important when playing her to focus on small portions of the enemy’s forces at once, bringing as much strength as possible to bear while utilizing board control abilities to minimize enemy counterstrikes.
Hopefully, this assessment of Wraith Witch Deneghra has opened up new ideas and avenues on how to use her abilities to her maximum benefit.
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