M2E+Rat+Catcher

Rat Catchers ply their trade in the sewers, cellars, and alleyways of Malifaux, collecting the bounties offered by the Guild and resident groups for collected rat carcasses. Most laugh off the idea that they have been infected with some deadly plague, claiming to be immune to whatever it is they show symptoms of up until the moment they keel over dead.
 * Rat Catcher, Outcast Minion**

=__Overview__= toc Rat Catchers are support models that focus on Vermin and the Blighted Condition, and as such are part of Hamelin's thematic crew.

=__Mobility__=

Rat Catchers have average mobility with no special tricks for getting around faster than normal.

=__Offense__=

Rat Catchers are not particularly offensive models. The damage on their Rusty Trap attack is low, though they make up for it with a handful of interesting innate triggers. They also hand out the Blighted Condition with each successful attack, which enhances their Quarantine trigger as well as providing support for the rest of Hamelin's thematic crew (Hamelin, Rat Kings, the Stolen, Nix, and the Obedient Wretch).

The Catch and Release trigger is one of the more useful triggers the Rat Catcher possesses, as it allows them to summon a single Malifaux Rat into base contact with the struck enemy, once per turn. The Rat Catcher gains some defensive bonuses from having a Malifaux Rat nearby (see below), and four or more Malifaux Rats can combine together to summon a Rat King.

The Rusted Shut trigger allows the Rat Catcher to give the Slow Condition to their target, which helps to mitigate the number of attacks coming back against them.

Finally, the Quarantine trigger allows the Rat Catcher to take advantage of the Blighted Condition on enemy models by increasing its damage against models with Blighted +3 or higher by +2. This turns its rather lackluster damage spread of 1/2/3 into a very respectable spread of 3/4/5.

=__Resilience__=

Rat Catchers are surprisingly resilient models despite their average Defense and Willpower. They have a high number of wounds and their Covered in Rats ability grants them Armor +1 for each Malifaux Rat in base contact with them. Because Rat Catchers are able to summon Malifaux Rats with their Voracious Rats ability as well as a trigger on their melee attack, this means that the Rat Catcher will usually have at least one one Malifaux Rat nearby.

They also possess the Rotting Odor free action, which allows the Rat Catcher to place any number of friendly Malifaux Rats within 5" of them into base contact with themselves, thus allowing them to immediately benefit from their Covered in Rats ability.

=__Support__=

Rat Catchers are primarily support models and do very well next to Rat Kings, which they can Reactivate with their Moldy Cheese action. They can also use this ability on Malifaux Rats - with a significant bonus to their **Ca** - but generally speaking, it's far more useful to use this ability on Rat Kings rather than their less effective cousins.

The Don't Mind Me ability allows the Rat Catcher to take Interact Actions while engaged, allowing them to easily complete schemes such as Spring the Trap or Plant Explosives. It also allows them to shake of conditions such as Cursed Object or Distract while in combat, which can easily throw a wrench into the carefully planned schemes of an opponent.

Rat Catchers also possess a bit of summoning in the form of the Voracious Rats ability, which allows you to summon a Malifaux Rat whenever a Blighted or enemy model is killed within 6" of them. Between this and their Catch and Release trigger, it's usually not difficult for a Rat Catcher to summon enough rats to tangle together into a Rat King.

=__Tactics and Tips__=

Rat Catchers are part of a summoning cycle involving Malifaux Rats and Rat Kings. When four or more Malifaux Rats get together, they tangle up into a Rat King. The Rat King can use its Rat Problem action to sacrifice itself to summon a Rat Catcher and a Malifaux Rat. The Rat Catcher can summon Malifaux Rats with its Catch and Release trigger and Voracious Rats ability, thus providing the fuel for a new Rat King. By sacrificing your weakened Rat Kings to summon Rat Catchers, you can quickly keep recycling your summoned Malifaux Rats into more useful models.

=__Playing Against Rat Catchers__=

Rat Catchers only get really dangerous after the model they're attacking as accumulated a fair amount of Blight, but they're good at keeping a model Slowed and at summoning lots of Malifaux Rats which can combine into a Rat King (which the Rat Catcher can then Reactivate).

Any sort of Blast attack is very good at clearing away the hordes of Rats that Rat Catchers like to surround themselves with.

Be wary around Rat Catchers if you're facing schemes that involve placing Scheme Markers near your models, as their Don't Mind Me makes them very good at pulling off this sort of scheme. Keep in mind that using Distract or Cursed Object against Rat Catchers is less effective as they are able to shrug off the Condition even while engaged using this same ability.

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 * __Ownership__ **