Editing Hordes/Tactics/Legion of Everblight (section)

====Heavy Warbeasts====

The movers and shakers of a Legion list: taking 3 heavy warbeasts in a 50-point list is typical.

*'''Angelius:''' A crazy-fast flying warbeast with a heavy assassination focus. Armour Piercing is truly brutal, but you can only use it once per turn, so make it count.
*'''Carnivean:''' The OG Legion heavy (and in Mk I, the '''only''' Legion heavy until the Angelius and Typhon came along).  The Carnivean comes stock with the most powerful melee output of all Legion heavies with 3 base attacks (a POW 18 bite and two POW 16 claws).  Additionally, you get a POW 14 RNG 10 spray attack: while the Carnivean's RAT 4 is somewhat mediocre, it does give you added flexibility for those times when you aren't able to charge into melee, and you can use it on the charge as well thanks to Assault (although generally you should treat it as a nice bonus rather than as something to bank on).  It also comes with an animus that can significantly increase the survivability of 11/18 Legion warbeasts.

:Despite all this though, the Carnivean has fallen out of favor as a primary beater heavy for a couple reasons.  First is cost: at 11 points the Carnivean has a cost that rivals (or exceeds!) that of some character heavies.  Second is a lack of Reach, which reduces its threat range and ability to guarantee the alpha strike: this is exacerbated by the relative fragility of Legion warbeasts, and a Carnivean that gets charged surviving long enough to retaliate is often a toss up even with Spiny Growth up.  This isn't to say that the Carnivean isn't capable of cracking skulls, but you will need to take these factors into consideration when building your list to ensure that doesn't wind up as expensive cannon fodder for the Reckoners and Bronzebacks of the world.
:'''''Animus(Spiny Growth)''''': The Carnivean's selling point over the Scythean, Spiny Growth grants the target +2 ARM and enemy warjacks/beasts damaging the target suffer d3 damage after every hit provided that the affected model is not destroyed.  Good for non-Angelii Legion heavies, as going from 18 ARM to 20 gives them a considerable boost to survivability.  The d3 damage per hit is minor but can quickly add up, especially against warbeasts (who typically rely on volume of attacks over sheer power):.  Additionally, this can soften up the target for retaliation, and many opponents will choose to boost the damage roll rather than buy additional attacks (which can further reduce the overall damage you receive).  In general this animus is most valuable to both versions of Thagrosh (who are able to stack it with their own defensive buffs) and Absylonia (who needs the survivability boost for her warbeasts to make her feat a credible threat).
*'''Ravagore:''' The artillery version of the Carnivean; shoots AOE attacks with decent range and an animus which grants Continuous Fire, and is no slouch in melee. Commonly regarded as one of the more OP things in the Legion book, although it isn't really -- it's just difficult to hide from its attacks because of Eyeless Sight. Its biggest disadvantage is that its attack has the Fire and Corrosion damage types, meaning that anything which is immune to either of those types won't be hurt.
*'''Scythean:''' The Carnivean's slightly underperforming but 2-points-cheaper brother. It comes with one fewer attack base, a weaker animus, and no spray attack. In return, it gets reach and thresher. In general, the Scythean is better at cutting down the masses, while the Carnivean is better with elites. Overall, because of its lower price, it tends to overshadow the Carnivean except with specific casters (Absylonia comes to mind). Despite conceived flaws, it has the potential to make up to 7 attacks (if Blood Bath goes off, which Kallus and Abby can assist with) at one POW less than the Carnivean's Bite. His animus removed models from play and ignores tough. 
*'''Seraph:''' This MkI workhorse did not survive the transition to MkII particularly well, and the major reason is performance for cost.  The Seraph comes with a mediocre melee attack (P+S 14, with Critical Poison) and a P+S 12 gun a D3+1 Strafe (albeit slightly short ranged).  Taken alone this isn't a bad setup, but the cost is the killer: at 8 points, the Seraph faces competition from other heavies in that price bracket (Scythean and Angelius) and its damage output is pitiful by comparison.  It has an excellent animus (arguably one of the best in the game), but even so you're paying quite a bit for a heavy that often struggles to otherwise contribute to the game in a meaningful way.  Generally best taken with warlocks that can buff its ranged output (with pVayl and Incite the Strafe attack becomes very scary, pumping out multiple P+S 14 shots), or when you desperately need those extra two inches of threat range.
:'''''Animus(Slipstream)''''': What makes the Seraph.  At its most basic, this gives a model an extra 2" of threat range, but since this is a place effect you can do some interesting tricks like pulling a friendly model out of melee without incurring the free strikes.  Since Legion lives or dies based on getting the drop on people this is a very strong animus, but you need to decide if it's worth dealing with the unfortunate 8-point warbeast it's stuck to.