Angelius

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Angelius Legion Heavy Warbeast

The six-winged Angelius screams into the sky as a pronouncement of Everblight s power. This beast falls like a sword upon its prey, pierces any armor with its barbed tail, and rises again despite all attempts to halt it. Soaring for the first time in two thousand years, the Angelius gluts itself on slaughter as the Legion inexorably advances south.

Basic Info

Angelius
Missing Info
	COST {{{cacost}}} UNIT SIZE {{{casize}}} FA {{{cafa}}} Warcaster 0 BASE Large SPD 7 STR 9 MAT 6 RAT 5 M.A. N/A DEF 14 ARM 17 CMD N/A ESSENCE {{{essence}}} FOCUS N/A FURY 4 THRS 9 HP 25 F. Field N/A WJP {{{wjp}}} WBP {{{wbp}}} IHP {{{ihp}}} FA U UNIT SIZE N/A COST 14 N/A N/A N/A Warcaster 1 COST N/A N/A Understanding the Statblock

Warbeast - All warbeasts share a huge stack of special rules. The short version is they're big, furious, and beat stuff up pretty good. Click here for a newbie-friendly recap, or click here for the full rules.

Abilities

• Eyeless Sight
• Soulless
• Flight
• Serpentine - This model cannot make slam or trample power attacks and cannot become knocked down.
• Side Step - When this model hits an enemy model with an initial melee attack or a melee special attack, it can advance up to 2" after the attack is resolved.

Weapons

• Flame Jet - 12" range, POW 12 ranged weapon.
  • Damage Type: Fire
  • Critical Continuous Fire

• Tail Strike - 2" reach, POW 5, P+S 14 melee weapon.
  • Armor-Piercing - When calculating damage from this weapon, halve the base ARM stat of models hit.
  • Single Shot - After an attack with this weapon is resolved, this model cannot make another attack with it for one round.

• Bite - 2" reach, POW 5, P+S 14 melee weapon.

Animus

	COST	RNG	AOE	POW	DUR	OFF
Repulsion	2	SELF	-	-	-	No
Enemy models currently within 2" of the spellcaster are immediately pushed 3" directly away from it in the order you choose.

Theme Forces

• Children of the Dragon
• Oracles of Annihilation
• Primal Terrors
• Ravens of War

Recent changes

2021. October

• Dropped 1 point (from 15)

Thoughts on Angelius

Angelius in a nutshell

Angelius is the quintessence of the Legion's play-style: for a heavy beast it is deceptively mobile, nimble, and can deliver a crippling alpha strike to everything except the beefiest targets via its armour-piercing Tail Strike. With SPD 7, Flight, and 2" reach on its melee weapons, the Angelius has one of the longest melee threat ranges in the faction, and Side Step enables it to extend that threat even further. It is a strong assassination piece, but its fragility and high point cost mean that it is anything but a point-and-click solution in Legion lists.

Other than the armour-piercing Tail Strike, which has a Single Shot restriction, the Angelius is pretty pillow-fisted. There are light warbeasts which have the same base P+S as the Angelius' Bite. If the enemy has the ability to negate your single armour-piercing attack (with the Hermit of Henge Hold or a Dhunian Archon, for example), then you'll find the Angelius capable of much less output than something like the Carnivean for 1 point more or even the Neraph for 2 points less.

The Angelius relies on its high defense and immunity to knockdown from Serpentine to stay alive. It lacks the staying power to survive for very long if it does start to take hits. This means you'll want evasion and movement tricks to couple with Side Step to help keep it alive. Fyanna2 offers it Overtake, as well as +3 DEF and Dodge on feat turn. The Blight Archon can give Sprint to its battlegroup.

Warlocks that can capitalize further on the Angelius' speed and mobility may reach for them before the more reliable heavies, but in general, you may want to find a balance between speed and power in your beast selection when considering to include an Angelius in your army.

The Angelius' animus, Repulsion, is an incredibly valuable spell for scenario play, allowing you to push out models who are toeing a zone. It can also be combined with Legion's other push tricks: the Neraph's Attractor, the Hellmouth tentacle's Grip, Proteus' Pull, Fyanna2's Gallows, and the Blight Archon's Impending Doom.

Combos & Synergies

The Angelius, with a few exceptions, is best utilized sprinkled into a list. One is usually enough to keep around as an initiation tool, finisher, or assassin. It can go in just about any list, but some casters like him more than others.

• Kryssa - With the feat it will deal scary amounts of damage with the Tail Strike, and even more so with Ignite added. Energizer can further extend its threat range, adding another 2".
• Fyanna2 - Fyanna's kit works quite well with the Angelius. The combination of Overtake and Side Step allow it to threaten deep into enemy lines, or duck behind cover after delivering a powerful blow. Fury improves the Angelius' overall output, and brings its Tail Strike into the realm of terrifying. Admonition and her feat both improve on the Angelius' already high evasiveness, potentially allowing it to stay alive after you commit it to the front lines. Do beware stationary effects, as those still work on Serpentine models.
• Vayl2 - She can make an Angelius as fast as cavalry using Boundless Charge. Combine with the Seraph's Slipstream and the Mekanoshredder's Full Steam, and just about the only thing that Angelius cannot get to is a Defender with Snipe at max range - or things with Polarity Shield on. She'll still want some heavier hitters in her list, but one or two Angelii are worth considering for her.
• Abby2 - Being a monster polisher second to none, her Alpha Hunter can help you a lot to add additional mobility, and will bring it up to an impressive MAT 8. You'll still want to boost that Tail Strike whenever possible, though, especially since you'll already be charging for free. Alpha Hunter's SPD boost combines with the Angelius' impressive native threat range and Side Step to create a monster that is difficult to escape. On feat turn, the STR bonus makes Tail Strike quite impressive.
  • Absylonia can combine Repulse with her 5" reposition to ensure she can make it back to safety after triggering Alpha Hunter.
• Either version of Thagrosh doesn't mind an Angelius peppered in. Both tend to build their lists a little on the slow side, so having a fast body helps them maintain a longer threat range, and there's also no reason a fast style list can't be tried with them.
  • Thagrosh1 can help keep his Angelius alive a little longer with Dark Shroud - just try to say inside his CMD range. Also, if the enemy RFPd your most expensive warbeasts, an Angelius is not bad either for a revival through your feat.
  • If the Angelius forgoes its Tail Strike during its regular activation, and uses Side Step to set up an appropriate charge lane, then under Thagrosh, the Messiah's feat it can threaten an unexpected assassination deep within enemy lines. Manifest Destiny is great on all Legion warbeasts, and the Angelius is no different.
• Lylyth1 makes the armor pierce as scary as Fyanna with Fury, and doesn't drop the Angelius' DEF to do it. She can also offer them free charges through Blood Lure, letting them get an extra boost or an extra bought attack. (That said, they also have access to free charges through the Blighted Nyss Sorceress & Hellion's Aerial Coordination or the Mekanoshredder's Full Steam.
• Lylyth3 can use an Angelius as an assassin better than most Legion warlocks - a well placed, stationary caster is easy pickings for a SPD9 (from Battle Host) Angelius to wipe the floor with.
• The Twins get a special Repulsion mention. With one Angelius the Twins get three Repulses, which means a lot of board control. This is especially useful on Rhyas2 as she loves to be thrown neck deep in the enemy, allowing for more chance to push survivors of her Flashing Blade spam off the point.
  • An extension of this concept exists with the Nephilim Bloodseer; he can borrow Repulse for around half the cost of a second Angelius, which may be worth thinking about for a very scenario focused list.
• Playing God from Abby1 makes a single Angelius even harder to hit (especially against living enemy models), and much more reliable on its follow-up attacks. They'll compete for the spell with Zuriel if you bring him.
• Sorceress - Charge, boost to hit, Repulse - that'll eat up all of the Angelius' FURY stack. Free charge from Aerial Coordination helps you to save 1 Fury.
• In the Blight Archon's battlegroup, the Angelius can gain access to Sprint, which can stack with Repulse and Side Step to help it reach safety after an alpha strike.
• Rhyas1 - Rapport is an ideal fix for the beast's average MAT, but it is the feat that elevates the Angelius' mobility to new level. See the Warlock's page for a detailed run-down, which is omitted here for the sake of brevity.
• Ice Witches or the Blackfrost Shard have Ice Cage to alleviate its middling MAT.

Drawbacks & Downsides

• It's two points more expensive than a Neraph, and if the enemy has any way to negate its Single Shot with the Tail Strike, it is typically less effective overall.
• High DEF is its only way of staying alive, as it only has ARM 17 and 25 boxes.
• Things that negate single, powerful attacks may make your Angelius run for its points. This was once pretty rare (like the Vision spell or Madrak1's Scroll of Grim Perseverance), but with the coming of the Dhunian Archon and the Hermit virtually every army have access to this ability.

Tips & Tricks

• Always remember the Golden Rule of running an Angelius: boost your Tail Strike attack roll. Always. Really, no matter what. OK, maybe if your target is stationary, or knocked down. Consider this: you have a 14 pts model, and its effectiveness is tied to a Single Shot attack in 99% of the time. You don't even want that 1/36 chance to risk that your point investment is just poured down the drain.
• Your ranged attack is basically a hand-cannon shot, with critical continuous fire - keep that in mind, if you cannot run or charge, but need some work to be done.
• Sidestep behind the enemy, then use Repulsor to push them into your army. Especially potent with Fyanna's Gallows spell. Watch your move, since you're not immune to free strikes while advancing with Sidestep.

Other

Trivia

• Released in Hordes: Evolution (2007)
• Name possibly derives from Angelus, the Catholic devotion, which commemorates the Incarnation (the event when God made himself manifest in the flesh-clad form).

Other Legion models

Legion Index       (Edit)
Battlegroup & Similar
Warlocks	Absylonia1 - Absylonia2 - Anamag - Bethayne1 - Bethayne2 - Fyanna2 - Kallus1 - Kallus2 - Kryssa - Lylyth1 - Lylyth2 - Lylyth3 - Lylyth4 - Rhyas1 - Saeryn1 - Saeryn2 & Rhyas2 - Thagrosh1 - Thagrosh2 - Vayl1 - Vayl2
Other Warbeast Controllers	Beast Mistress - Blight Archon - Thagrosh0
Lesser	Blight Wasps - Shredder - Harrier - Mekanoshredder - Stinger
Light	Afflictor - Naga Nightlurker - Nephilim Bloodseer - Nephilim Bolt Thrower - Nephilim Protector - Nephilim Soldier - Raek - Teraph
Heavy	Angelius - Azrael - Carnivean - Golab - Neraph - Proteus - Ravagore - Scythean - Typhon - Seraph - Zuriel
Gargantuans	Archangel - Blightbringer
Units, Solos, & Battle Engines
Units	Blackfrost Shard - B.N. Archers - B.N. Hex Hunters - B.N. Legionnaires - B.N. Raptors - B.N. Scather Crew - B.N. Swordsmen - B. Rotwings - B.O. Warmongers - B.O. Warspears - Chosen - Grotesque Banshees - Grotesque Raiders - Hellmouth - Ice Witches - Strider Blightblades - Strider Scouts - Spawning Vessel - Virtue Host
Solos	Ammok - Annyssa Ryvaal - Beast Mistress - Blight Archon - B.N Shepherd - B.N. Sorceress - B.N. Warlord - Craelix - Forsaken - Fyanna1 - Grotesque Assassin - Incubi - Spell Martyr - Strider Deathstalker - Succubus - Thagrosh0 - Virtue Champion - B.O. Warmonger War Chief - Yssylla
Battle Engines	Throne of Everblight
Theme Forces
Children of the Dragon - Oracles of Annihilation - Primal Terrors - Ravens of War
Minions
Refer to Who Works for Whom and/or Category: Legion of Everblight Minion
This index was last updated: 2021.11

Rules Clarifications

Rules Clarification : Fire      (Edit) If you deploy in fire hazard terrain (Burning Earth), then you get set on fire before the game starts. Deploying a model in a hazard counts as being "put into play" in the hazard. Being put into play counts as "entering". When you enter a hazard, you trigger the hazard. Moving into "Shallow water" standard terrain does not cause continuous fire to expire. It's magic fire. You can always use non-standard terrain if you agree with your opponent before the game starts, however. A weapon can inflict continuous fire without itself being a fire damage weapon (for example, the Helios's fists). In this case, the attack can hurt models with Immunity:Fire it just won't apply the continuous effect. In terms of which player's clock is running down during the Maintenance Phase: The active player will roll for expiration of all the continuous effects. Then the inactive player will roll for all the damages of the continuous effects. (Judge Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Armor-Piercing and/or Case Cracker     (Edit) The correct maths is (Infernal Ruling): First halve the target's base ARM (what's printed on their card). Then round up. Then apply any +/- ARM modifiers (Shield, Spiny Growth, Dark Shroud, etc). There are examples of how to do maths on the Armor Piercing page.

Rules Clarification : Single Shot - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification:  : Warbeast      (Edit) (Click Expand to read)

See also the Warbeast page for a recap of the core warbeast rules. Forcing If an ability doesn't specify how much it costs to force, it costs 1. (Infernal Ruling) Animi A single Animus can be on several models at the same time. (Infernal Ruling) Unlike in Mk2, in Mk3 if a model has an animus on it from any source and then another animus is cast on that model, it will lose the first instance of an animus and will be replaced by the second. It does not matter if either the first animus or the second animus is from a warlock or warbeast. (Infernal Ruling) An animi cast by a warlock is an animi and a spell. (Infernal Ruling) Transferring Damage If both the warlock and the warbeast are damaged by the same attack (such as an AOE), then you need to apply the 'normal' damage to the warbeast before the transferred damage. This distinction can be important when you're working out who/what actually destroyed the beast. (Infernal Ruling) Frenzy (Edit) You cannot trigger optional abilities (such as Cleave or Sprint). (Infernal Ruling) You must trigger compulsory abilities (such as Consume) ... except for compulsory abilities that also generate an extra attack (such as Berserk). In that case, you don't get the Berserk attack. (Infernal Ruling) A warbeast may not make an Assault shot as part of a Frenzy activation. If the closest target to a warbeast resolving a Frenzy cannot be charged, then the warbeast will forfeit movement and action (as per the rules of having to charge and not being able to). (Infernal Ruling) If a frenzying warbeast can't reach its charge target (because the charge lane is blocked by terrain, etc) then it will make a failed charge and end its activation. (Locked thread) If a frenzying warbeast has two melee weapons with the same POW, it can choose which one to use. (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Eyeless Sight      (Edit) A model that ignores Stealth must ignore both aspects: both (1) the auto-missing, and (2) the 'not counting as an intervening model' parts. This can have some strange interactions with casters & channelers, if one has Eyeless Sight and one does not. There are examples on the Category:Channeler page. Blind vs Eyeless Sight (Edit) If a model is Blinded, and then given Eyeless Sight, then that model ignores Blind ... but it is technically still Blinded. So if you somehow later lose Eyeless Sight (for instance walking out of the range of Menoth's Sight), it will immediately go back to suffering the effects of Blind. (Infernal Ruling) Also this means stuff that only works vs Blind models (ie Hidden Blade) will still trigger vs a "Was Blinded but then got Eyeless" model. Anti-Cloud abilities vs Burning Earth (Edit) If you make a piece of terrain "Burning Earth" it counts as a cloud effect in addition to it's original type. This has 2 odd rulings: If any part of the terrain piece is "hit" by an ability that makes clouds expire (such as Gale Winds) then the entire terrain piece is taken off the table. (Infernal Ruling) If a model can ignore clouds but not the original terrain type, they don't ignore the terrain. For instance if you have a burning forest, then Eyeless Sight can't see through the forest. (Infernal Ruling)

Rules Clarification : Soulless - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification:  : Flight      (Edit) (Click Expand to read)

Flight doesn't ignore: Impassable terrain. Most hazards. The exception is they do ignore Acid Bath and Burning Earth as long as they don't land in them. Templates that stay in play and do damage to models moving through them (such as a Scather). Free strikes. Trampling with a flying model (Edit) Flight allows you to trample "over" medium- and larger-bases. Although you trample "over" them, you don't get to make a trample attack vs them and you don't ignore their free strikes. Refer the core rulebook. Unless, of course, you have an exception like Blade Rush. Flight on a Cavalry model (Edit) Although flyers can move over obstacles/models, and horses can pause to do impacts while charging, flying horses cannot make impact attacks while overlapping models/obstacles. You need to pause in a legal position. Charging through models (Edit) You can't charge all the way through your charge target, with the intention to turn around and face them once you're on the other side. Because you aren't able to satisfy the "must keep the charge target in melee range" clause at the point after you are through the model but before you turn to directly face. At that point the target is behind you, not in your front arc, and thus not in your melee range. Your melee range only extends to your front arc. Refer to the latest errata. You can still "skim" through the edge of their base, if you're careful and smart with your positioning.

Rules Clarification : Serpentine - None yet. (Edit)

Rules Clarification : Side Step      (Edit) You can't trigger Side Step by hitting friendly models. You can't trigger Side Step from additional attacks that you buy, or out-of-activation attacks (such as free strikes). If you have multiple initial attacks, you have to step after each one. You can't "save up" all your side steps then get a single big 4" or 6" move.

Rules Clarification : Repulsion      (Edit) Push - General     (Edit)   [Show/Hide] Pushed models do not change their facing. Pushed models move at half rate through difficult terrain. Also, Pathfinder doesn't apply during pushes. Pushed models stop if they contact anything - a model of any size, or any obstacles or obstructions. You don't get free strikes against pushed models, because it is "involuntary movement" and therefore does not count as an advance. Pushed models suffer the effects of anything they move through (such as acid clouds). If you use a Push vs a charging model (via a free strike for example), this will stop the charge movement (refer core rulebook). However, if the pushed model is in melee range of its charge target after the push, then it is considered a successful charge. (Infernal Ruling) In that scenario, you measure whether the charging model moved 3" or less excluding the push distance. (Infernal Ruling) If you push a model to a position where it regains Incorporeal (for instance you push it out of range of an Exorcist) then what happens is (Being Checked by Infernals)