M2E+Chiaki+the+Niece


 * Chiaki the Niece, Resurrectionists / Ten Thunders Enforcer**

=__Overview__= == toc Chiaki is the only living relative of Yan Lo. She is mostly a support piece whose biggest contribution to both her factions is long ranged condition removal. Chiaki can also do some conditional healing, can push enemy models around and can spread **Insignificant** in a limited way. She also has the **Ancestor** characteristic which gives her some special synergies with Yan Lo and some Retainer models like Ashigaru and Komainu as well as some **Chi** manipulation tricks.

=__Mobility__=

Chiaki's mobility is a nice Wk of 5 and a surprisingly high Cg of 7, but what really lets her move through the table is the **Incorporeal** ability which makes her ignore models and terrain when moving and pushing. This means that terrain is barely a problem for her and only really has to be careful when going down in Ht from a given structure, since she isn't immune to falling damage or when crossing hazardous terrain. Chiaki mostly likes to operate at range, so her mobility is more than enough to achieve that.

She also has another way to influence the table with the **Purity** tactical action. This is a Ca 5 action with a TN of 12 and that affects all enemy models in a 6" pulse. The affected models must pass a TN 14 Wp duel or be pushed 4" away from Chiaki. This allows her to blow away enemy models from her that might be engaged, or even, if positioned right, push enemy models into other allies for some hurt. Then not only can it make them stay away, but with a Mask she can activate the **Face in the Crowd** trigger which activates **Manipulative** again (see Resilience).

=__Offense__=

Chiaki's offense is quite limited, at least when talking about pure damage, that doesn't mean she can't make your opponent's life hell with them.

Sacred Knife
It is a a Ml 4 attack action with a Melee range of 1" that causes 1/2/3 damage. It has no triggers and has no secondary effects, so it's pretty much a desperation move. But thanks to Chiaki's huge Cg range and **Incorporeal,** she can give some unwanted surprises if you can stack the odds in your favor, finishing a model that thought it managed to survive. Also, it at least gives her an engagement range for disengaging strike purposes.

Memories Past
This action is the biggest reason why you bring Chiaki. It is a (1)AP action that targets Wp and has a Ca of 5, a TN of 12, a respectable range of 10", its effect is that it removes a condition from the target model. Her ability to remove conditions so easily can help make sure your crew doesn’t get **Paralyzed**, **Burned**, **Poisoned**, or any number of other horrible conditions. Additionally, she can also remove the conditions from your enemies, removing their buffs like **Fast**, **Defensive** or **Reactivate**. The action also has **The Cleansing Death** trigger which heals the target model 2 Wd if she gets a Ram. Her ability to heal off of the action really helps any summoners, not only do you remove the **Slow** from a freshly summoned model, but you may even heal it for 2 damage right off the bat.

The Calling
This is Chiaki's only (0)action. It is a Ca 5 attack action with a range of 10" that targets Wp and it causes 1/2/3 damage as well as giving the **Insignificant** condition to the targeted model until Chiaki activates again or she is removed from play. This means that a model tagged by this action cannot do **Interact** actions and can be a complete shutdown for scheme marker dedicated models. The damage is paltry but can help to finish off a given model.

It also has the **Memory in Song** trigger, which gives Chiaki the **Chi +1** condition if she was successful casting the spell with a tome. this is huge for 2 reasons. The first one is that the current value of the **Chi** condition up to a maximum of 3 will be added to all her Ca actions, making her have a much easier time using all of her Ca actions. The second one is thanks to her **Innocence** ability, this lets her transfer all conditions on her to another friendly ancestor within 6" and line of sight at the start of her activation and by far the condition you will want to be transferring the most is **Chi**, be it to Yan Lo to feed his upgrades and abilities, or Toshiro, Yin and Izamu who all can get more or less use out of the increased Ca the **Chi** condition brings with it. Do be careful when doing a **Chi** transfer that Innocence is an all or nothing deal, so if Chiaki has other negative conditions, she would transfer them too, though she should have a good chance of dispelling them after transferring them with **Memories Past**.

=__Resilience__=

Chiaki's defensive stats are pretty low with a Df of 4 and a Wp of 5 though she does have a decent amount of 7 Wd. She makes up for it with **Manipulative 12** and **Incorporeal**. **Manipulative 12** causes any model that targets Chiaki with an attack action before she activates to have to pass a TN 12 Wp duel or the action immediately fails. This can be a very intense card drain if the enemy wants to take her down before she gets to activate. Chiaki is capable of still applying her **Manipulative 12** even after activating thanks to the **Face in the Crowd** trigger in her **Purity** action, so if you have a mid size mask that doesn't have a better use and intend to push enemy models away, this trigger should help her stay alive longer.


 * Incorporeal** is her other big defensive mechanism which aside from all the mobility it gives her, makes her reduce to half (rounding up) all damage she takes from Ml and Sh actions. This makes her 7 Wd last a lot longer supposing she isn't targeted by Ca actions or indirect damage like the one from conditions. She will still die fairly quickly to Ml and Sh attack actions if **Manipulative** is down since she is still fairly easy to hit and Ca actions will kill her in a heartbeat, so use range, line of sight and cover to keep Chiaki out of trouble till needed.

=__Upgrades__=

Since Chiaki is both a Ten Thunders and a Resurrectionist Enforcer, she has an ample choice of upgrades depending on the faction she is playing as.

Pull of the Grave
This is Chiaki's personal upgrade and it's a doozy. It's a Ca 5 attack action that targets Wp, reaches 10" and gives **Slow** to the target model. This is already a pretty nice effect already since you can effectively exchange Chiaki's AP to remove it from more costly enemy models, but the action also has the **Relentless Beckoning** which lets her use the action again for free (can't declare more triggers though). This means that Chiaki can put **Slow** on up to 4 models in a turn. The spell starts out with a tame Ca of 5, but if Chiaki manages to farm **Chi** thanks to the **Memory in Song** trigger in her **The Calling** action, that humble Ca 5 can grow and reach the amazing value of 8 which should be able to de-buff almost any model in the game. Also, since the action doesn't have a TN, you always have the potential to use any mask to get the trigger supposing your opponent can't put better cards to stop her. This is the go to upgrade for Chiaki and should always be your first consideration to use her slot.

Recalled Training
This allows Chiaki to discard the upgrade at the start of her activation to get + flips on all duels and flips for the rest of the turn. This upgrade is pretty much wasted on Chiaki since the + flips on damage are barely used by her and her other actions aren't so difficult to achieve as to justify a once per game + on the attack or casting flip. Leave it's use to the face punchers in the crew, Chiaki has other things to do.

Servant of 5 Dragons
Utility upgrade that gives +1 Wp and you can discard at the start of Chiaki's activation to discard all scheme markers in a 3" pulse from her. It's important to keep in mind that it's at the start of the activation, so you have to get him into position to where you want to use the scheme pulse the previous turn. This can be interesting in a scheme marker heavy match and Chiaki certainly has the mobility to go where needed to prepare it's use and can work at range, meaning she doesn't feel forced to go directly to enemy models to feel she is giving good value. The +1 Wp is certainly nice, but unless you have a very good reason to believe it's important, it's not really worth a Soulstone and the upgrade slot. It's still very corner case for her.

Unnerving Aura
This upgrade gives Chiaki the **Unnerving Aura** ability, a 3" aura where if an enemy model begins it's activation within 3" of her and ends within those same 3", he takes 2 damage. This upgrade is a bad idea on Chiaki on principle. Yes, she is able to get into position with ease thanks to **Incorporeal**, but she is very bad at actually forcing models to stay in the 3" circle with only a 1" Melee range and a low Ml stat of 4. Also, Chiaki doesn't really like being in the thick of it outside of setting up a massed **Purity** push. Leave it for the big guys.

Decaying Aura
This is an expensive upgrade at 2 SS and It gives Chiaki the **Decaying Aura** ability, which is a 4" aura that prevents enemy models from healing or using soulstones for damage prevention. This upgrade has the exact same problems as **Unnerving Aura** on Chiaki, as well as just not having the damaging presence to capitalize on it. Again, leave it for the big guys.

Transfusion
This upgrade gives Chiaki the **Transfusion** 0 action. This action is a Ca 6 action that targets Df, has a range of 8" and transfers all the **Poison** condition from a model 8" from Chiaki to the target. This allows Chiaki to be more synergistic with poison based crews, though it does mean not using **The Calling**. It can still be worth considering if you intend to go **Poison** heavy, or at the very least will be using Sebastian and if you can gather some **Chi**, it can increase the base Ca of 6 to insane levels. Mostly worth considering in McMourning crews.

=__Tactics and Tips__=

Chiaki is mostly a control piece whose main job is to keep nasty conditions off your models while possibly doing some clutch healing. So first thing you really have to do is have a good idea of what are the conditions you want to keep of your own models or enemy models and who are the models that pass it around. Try to keep Chiaki in reserve until these models activate so she can do damage control while also forcing them to go later than they would like because of the possibility of Chiaki just dispelling their effects. You can also use **Memories Past** to remove conditions that you may cause on your own models, like **Slow** after a summon or **Paralyze** after a Nurse heals a friendly model, making both effects a lot more powerful.

Whenever you activate Chiaki, have a quick look at the table and consider if you may have a good chance to use Purity. It is Chiaki's second most conditional action outside of her **Sacred Knife**, but it can be incredibly powerful if you use it at the right time, like for example pushing enemy models out of the Turf War circle before the end of the turn, pushing enemy models to different quarters than they were planning in Reconnoiter, funneling models towards scheme markers for Plant Explosives and so on.

Use **The Calling** every turn you can, since the possibility of getting **Chi** is awesome, but always consider who the **Insginificant** can hurt the most when using it. A Moleman, Crooligan or Tengu that can't **Interact** can't do their job.

Chi
Whenever Chiaki manages to rake some **Chi** and if you have other **Ancestors** around, consider if you want to use **Innocence** to pass the Chi around or if you would rather keep it on Chiaki. If Chiaki has the **Pull of the Grave** upgrade, every point she gets in her Ca will be put to good use spamming **Slow** as much as possible while also making all her other support spells easier to get off.

Yan Lo can use the extra **Chi** to either ascend a path, use his **Transcendece** ability to give out some **Armor** or both. Yan Lo already has a few ways to get **Chi** of his own, but Chiaki can reduce the setup time he may require for gathering **Chi**, speeding up his overall play.

Toshiro loves getting **Chi** because both of his (0) actions are mid cast Ca actions. If using his upgrade, his summon can become a lot easier with the additional Ca, allowing him to be able to summon Ashigaru or Komainu with a 6 of crows/tomes when he has **Chi +3** on him. Also, remember that Chiaki can remove the **Slow** off his summoned models and maybe heal them a pip in the process.

Yin has 2 Ca actions that greatly benefit from the additional Ca since they are both offensive actions. **Gnawing Fear** especially becomes a lot more scary since she can go up to an insane Ca of 9, letting her pretty much guarantee the de-buff on the target and letting Yin cause pure mayhem on it between her damaging Ca action and her **Horror**.

Izamu gets the least of the **Ancestors** out of the **Chi**, but he still appreciates it mostly because it makes **Reform** go from a mid cast to a trivial one. Being able to only need a 4 to heal with each of his generic AP can be a huge boon for Izamu if what you want him is to hold an area.

=__Playing Against Chiaki__=

When seeing Chiaki at the other side of the board, the first question you should ask yourself is if you really care about her being able to strip conditions or not. If you are a Jakob Lynch, Jack Daw or McMourning crew that greatly appreciate spreading out a given condition, she can be a huge problem for you and should be a high priority. On the other hand, crews that don't use conditions like Lady Justice or Von Schill could really care less about that aspect of her.

That you don't use conditions doesn't mean you can just ignore her, since she can still remove harmful conditions from her own models, like **Slow** from summoned models or **Paralyze** from a model healed by a Nurse. These interactions can be very powerful and you should have an eye on them.

The other big reason to make Chiaki a priority is if she has the **Pull the Grave** upgrade, having her spread **Slow** around can be a huge problem, specially if she manages to gain **Chi** and makes her acceptable **Ca** of 5 go up to a terrifying 8.

Finally, be on the lookout for possible situations where **Purity** might cause a huge problem. It's better to use an additional **AP** to make sure you are in the Turf War circle than being barely in just so Chiaki comes in and pushes you out since you couldn't pass the **TN**.

When going after Chiaki, Ca actions and indirect damage are her bane, so try to direct that towards her. Also, consider if you can wait to attack her till after she has activated since the **Manipulative** duels can eat up your hand faster than you would like. This makes models with **Ruthless** ignore her **Manipulative** so are a good option against her.

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