Avatar+Ramos

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 * Ramos, Arcanist Avatar of Invention**

=Overview= After Manifesting, Ramos goes from a defensively weak and slow summoner to a super-fast melee beatstick. He has tremendous mobility, great support options, and a new devastating spell that turns a crew of Constructs into an apocalyptic firestorm of pain for your opponent.

=Manifesting= To manifest Avatar Ramos, you need to a) successfully cast //Electrical Creation// or //Construct Spider// twice, or b) inflict 8 Wd on enemy models with //Electrical Fire//.

You will probably be casting //Electrical Creation// or //Construct Spider// twice during the first few turns anyway, so this manifest requirement is almost a given. Doing 8 Wd with //Electrical Fire// will require 2-4 successful castings of the spell, which may leave Ramos a little too exposed if you try too hard to cast these. You may want to skip the second requirement and just Manifest with the Summoning if you can afford the extra AP cost.

Note that even if you are going to lose the totem while manifesting, it is still very worth it to start with a Mobile Toolkit, since the Toolkit helps you get Steampunk Arachnids or the Electrical Creation into play.

A fun synergy for Manifesting: If Rusty Alyce casts //Burn Out// on Ramos during the same turn that he manifests, he gets the free Reactivate, but none of the penalties, because all effects are discarded during the Manifest action.

=Second turn Manifest= It is possible to manifest Ramos at the beginning of his second turn, completing one manifest requirement first turn, and using an (all) action on the second. To do this, use //(2) Salvage Under Fire, (0) Construct Spider// with that scrap counter, and (1) (from casting expert) to summon a //Electrical Creation//. This gets you your construct-pumping melee-beatstick, although you have not really done much. Through using specific minions, it is possible to manifest this early, and gain additional Soulstones, scrap counters (incredibly useful), or effects on other models. An incredibly efficient manifest can be found here on the official Wyrd forums, netting you the following benefits above a regular Manifestation.


 * Your Soulstone Miner is still at full wounds (as long as you did not black joker your healing flips!), is buried with defensive stance and //(+2) Melee Master// and can tunnel 8" a turn, and continue to hit and run all game if you wish.
 * Not including the Soulstone your Miner discarded to gain Melee Master you should have gained +2 Souslstones and +4 scrap counters for Avatar Ramos to use.
 * You should have been able to stack your hand due to Alyce’s draw ability
 * You have summoned an additional 2 Steampunk Arachnids and an Electrical Creation.
 * You have enough scrap counters to summon two Large Steampunk Arachnids or summon one and make two extra melee strike.

While this involves taking a specific list, notably, Rusty Alyce for 10ss. You can use this method to get more use out of the minions you do take. An example is the Mobile Toolkit, a great totem for normal Ramos, but would be sacrificed on his manifestation. Why not kill him to get a free scrap counter?

=**Second Turn Manifest with only Ramos and Mobile Toolkit**=

This advantage this method provides is that it will allow Ramos to forgo the use of //(2) Salvage Under Fire// to create the scrap required for //(0) Construct Spider// and spend those 2 General AP doing other things such as moving farther into position.


 * Deploy Mobile Toolkit and Ramos base to base.
 * Mobile Toolkit activates
 * Mobile Toolkit first casts // Lab Equipment //on Ramos to provide an additional Tomes to his Ca
 * Mobile Toolkit uses //Magical Extension// to cast //Combat Medic// choosing itself as the killed target. The ability states that the Construct is **killed** and **not** sacrificed. Normally killing a model will allow the destroyed model to drop the appropriate counter.
 * Due to originally being in base to base contact with Ramos, the Scrap is immediately picked up by Ramos when dropped.
 * Ramos activates
 * Ramos casts //(0) Construct Spider// using the Scrap from the recently killed Mobile Toolkit
 * Ramos casts //(1) Electrical Creation//
 * 2 General AP is left over to do with as he wants, since he already satisfied one Manifest requirement.

Depending on circumstance you still may want to decide to use //Salvage Under Fire// to create the Scrap so Ramos can use it in his future Avatar form.

=Mobility= Ramos gets a lot more maneuverable in Avatar form. Way, way more maneuverable. He pretty much goes from Rasputina-like levels of slowness to Silurid-like levels of speed.

His **Wk/Cg** rises to a fairly quick **5/8**, with //Arachnid// to help with climbing, water, and severe terrain.

Avatar Ramos can also spend two Scrap Counters with //(0) Innovative Design// to move his **Cg** on **Walk** actions until he uses //Innovative Design// again. A Wk of 8" is extraordinarily fast. Alternately, he can **Charge** at a 1 AP cost for just one Scrap Counter with a different use of //Innovative Design//, which is probably a better use of the Ability if you're planning to move toward other models.

He also gains the //Leap// spell, which lets him move another 8" as a **(0)** action, with //Flight// no less. The fact that you only need a 2 of Masks makes this incredibly useful. However, this is balanced by the fact that Ramos tends to get tied up in Melee combat very often, where he cannot use the spell until he disengages first.

Ramos still only has one (0) Action, though, and you must choose between //Leap// and //Innovative Design//. So, you'll have to prioritize between these two excellent abilities every turn. In the long run, it's probably a little faster to use //Innovative Design// first and then //Leap// in later rounds if you don't think you'll use //Innovative Design// again.

Avatar Ramos also increases the Wk/Cg of other friendly Constructs (which should be all your other models if you chose properly) by +1/+1 with his //Mark of Invention//, which helps speed your Crew in general.

=Offense=


 * Melee**

Avatar Ramos gets very scary in melee combat. He suddenly has some very significant melee attacks: the shorter-ranged but higher-Cb //Clockwork Fist//, and the longer-ranged and slightly higher-damage //Mechanical Limb//. Avatar Ramos also gains //(+1) Melee Expert//, and he can spend two Scrap Counters to make two additional melee Strikes as an option for //Innovative Design//. All told, he can dish out five melee attacks in a round: as many as a buffed-up Flurrying Marionette, but for a lot more damage!

Avatar Ramos has two Cb triggers: Brutal, which raises damage on his //Clockwork Fist// by 1 per Tome, and //Pin//, which freezes in place a model after inflicting damage. //Brutal// requires Tomes, which Ramos doesn't have in his Cb. //Pin// requires a Ram and a Mask, and Avatar Ramos already has the Mask.


 * Spells**

Avatar Ramos keeps the same potent combat Spell, his staple ranged attack, //Electrical Fire//. He doesn't have any Ca triggers for his spells as he loses the Surge trigger he had prior to Manifesting.

Avatar Ramos gains, on the other hand, an incredibly brutal and powerful spell, //Override//. It's like a whirlwind of Obey spells for machines. //Override// takes 2 AP to cast, requires a 7 Tome or better to cast, and requires a Soulstone to boot, but it's worth it if you set it up properly. Every Construct within 8" must take a single (1) or Charge action that you specify if they fail their Resist duel. This affects friendly and hostile Constructs, though you can of course choose to fail the resist for friendly Constructs. If you cast this spell while surrounded with Constructs (which probably means gathering your Constructs up for this spell in advance), you can act with each of them and cause incredible devastation. It's an expensive spell, costing one Soulstone plus a possible second Soulstone to get a good casting total, but it can be a tremendous game-changer. Note that Override can also even affect Masters, including Avatar Ramos himself (as well as Hoffman, Leveticus, and Collodi.)

He loses Casting Expert, however, which puts a damper on some of his ranged fighting. With his new shift to fighting, he seems to be more interested in being a big thug than casting other spells.


 * Summoning**

Ramos retains his ability to summon an //Electrical Creation//, which is more like an attack spell with model-like mechanics than a model. He can also summon a variety of models with //Hasty Assembly//, though this costs 2 scrap counters and damages the model. (See below for a list.)


 * 'Spiderbomb'**

This is an attack tactic that Avatar Ramos can sling once he's Manifested, if he has a lot of Scrap Counters. It spans over two rounds and works best if you do it later in the round so the enemy cannot react as easily to it. On the first round, jump into the middle of some enemies with the //Leap// spell. Then, take your Melee Expert action and use //Hasty Assembly// twice to bring out two Large Steampunk Arachnids. Let them attack on that round too. On the next round (and this is worth Soulstoning for Initiative), you can unleash a bonanza of attacks: Ramos can make his //Melee Expert// attack, two more attacks with //Innovative Design//, and then a big flurry of attacks from every Construct nearby when you cast Override. This works even better if you have other Constructs in range as well. You should be able to clear up a large cluster with this tactic.

=R**esilience**= Avatar Ramos also becomes much more resilient. His **Df** rises from 2 to 5, and his **Wp** stays at 6. He keeps his **Armor +2** and can raise it up to **Armor +4** with Scrap Counters and the //Innovative Design// action. His **Wd** go up from 10 to 11, and while it is not a very big increase, every extra wound helps.

Ramos gains new ways to heal himself in his Avatar form as well. With //Innovative Design//, Ramos can discard 1 scrap counter to make a healing flip, which is easier than trying to cast the //Combat Mechanic// spell that he had before Manifesting. He can no longer heal other Constructs with it, and it's competing with other uses of //Innovative Design// as well as //Leap//, but it's still a pretty solid way to sustain Ramos if he's under fire. In many cases you'd do better to spend those Scrap Counters on getting two more attacks, though.

One way that Ramos becomes less resilient is that he loses Counterspell, which is a powerful but expensive deterrent to enemy spellcasters. If your opponent seems very intimidated by Counterspell, you may want to avoid Manifesting. On the other hand, he gains //Immune to Influence// and keeps //Perfect Machine//, so you simply have to make strategic choices.

Ramos also has two Df triggers: //Electrocute// (Mask), which does 1 Dg to a model that inflicts Moderate or Severe damage in melee and which may serve as a deterrent to attackers (similar to Black Blood). The second one is //Pneumatic Grip// (Crows), which is the same Df trigger he had prior to manifesting, though it works much better now that he has a higher Df. This one stops a unit from attacking Ramos any more after it misses during an attack when this trigger is activated. This also prevents the affected model from performing disengaging strikes on Ramos! Both use non-Tome suits, which may help with suit diversity a little.

While Learn from Mistakes is not necessarily an ability that directly affects Ramos' resilience, it has incredible benefits to his overall use. Gaining a scrap counter every time you take at least 1 Wd from an enemy attack or effect will help Ramos stack up scrap counters like he is preparing to survive a zombie apocalypse. Of course, if you are facing Resurrectionists, perhaps he is! But this ability will give you the scrap counters you need for the various //Innovative Design// options and //Hasty Assembly//. So don't be afraid to let Ramos get hit a little bit here and there. Because of his options with the scrap counters, he actually becomes more scary, the closer he is to death.

=Soulstones= Avatar Ramos sometimes really needs his Soulstones, especially when casting //Override//. His Defense is a little less fragile than unusual, but it's always a good idea to keep a few soulstones saved anyway to avoid any monkey business. Pick your battles carefully when spending Soulstones. Between spending Soulstones to boost your Soulstone Miner, casting Override, keeping Ramos alive before he Manifests, etc., you can quickly burn through your pool. Do your best to use Innovative Design for healing flips, and save your Soulstones.

=Tricks and Tips=
 * A list of the models that Avatar Ramos can summon with Hasty Assembly: Steampunk Arachnid (probably a bad idea because it will be nearly dead and you could have summoned it for cheaper before Manifesting anyway), Watcher (a great objective-grabber, spy, and support model), Large Steampunk Arachnid (a very solid combatant), and Warden (a very solid melee unit with good speed and flexible attacks), Clockwork Trap (a low-cost mobile trap model), and Metal Gamin (a strong bodyguard). Among these, the Large Steampunk Arachnid is often considered the best choice, particularly because it is a 50mm model. It only costs 2 scrap counters to summon it, but it will drop 3 scrap counters when it dies! Metal Gamin is also a promising choice, but has not been fully explored yet.
 * You should expect that Avatar Ramos will be gaining and using Scrap Counters often.
 * Avatar Ramos has many ways to gain Scrap Counters, and will gain them much more quickly than he would otherwise. These include: //Learn from Mistakes// to gain 1 Scrap Counter after taking damage from an enemy, //Trash Into Treasures// to gain a Scrap Counter as a (1) Action, or moving around picking them up like everyone else does.
 * Avatar Ramos also has a lot of ways to spend Scrap Counters, mostly using //Innovative Design//. These include using //Innovative Design// for gaining Armor (1 or 2 Scrap), getting a Healing Flip (1 Scrap), Reducing Charge costs to 1 AP (1 Scrap), Raising Walk to Cg (2 Scrap), or immediately taking two melee Strikes (2 Scrap). He can also spend two Scrap Counters and 1 AP with //Hasty Assembly// to Summon a model.

=Avatar and their Crew= Like his pre-Manifestation version, Avatar Ramos works best with other Constructs.

Note that even if you're going to lose the totem while manifesting, it's still totally worth it to start with a Mobile Toolkit, since the Toolkit helps you get spiders and electrical creations into play and effectively pays for itself in one round.

Outside of the obvious use of Constructs, you want to build a crew which can take the most advantage of Ramos' abilities after he has Manifested. For this reason, it is good to include at least 1-2 models with combat heavy stat lines, so you can use //Override// to cause them to attack or Charge. Fast non-Insignificant models like the Watcher make excellent pieces for Avatar Ramos to summon with //Hasty Assembly//. Even though they take the 2 Wd, they are still quite capable of moving quickly and snagging an objective or two in the final turns of the game.

As mentioned above, Rusty Alyce is an excellent choice for a Ramos crew if you are planning to Manifest into the Avatar form. Even beyond the use of //Burn Out// for an extra activation on Ramos with none of the drawbacks, she's still an excellent attacker or support piece for your crew. Cast Burn Out on an Large Steampunk Arachnid, and you can be care free about it getting reduced to 1 Wd or getting killed. Avatar Ramos will just pick up the scrap and summon another one!

=Playing Against Ramos= Watch out for his //Leap// ability! Also, if you see Ramos buy the option to Manifest, kill his Mobile Toolkit if you can get to it. It's very fragile, and he has a lot of trouble manifesting without it.

Once Ramos is in Avatar form, you want to try to use abilities that do large amounts of damage at a single time. If you use abilities or attacks that just do 1 Wd at a time, then Ramos will be getting 1 scrap counter for every one of those. You want to try and limit his scrap counters. Also be sure to utilize Armor-ignoring attacks as much as possible. This is a general rule of thumb against Ramos and Constructs anyway, but because of his higher defense, and his ability to raise his Armor to +4 with //Innovative Design// if he wants, it becomes even more important.

Avatar Ramos' combat primarily depends on melee attacks, so using pieces against him with good defensive abilities against melee attackers is your best bet. If you can force Ramos to stay further away and just use //Electrical Fire// to make his attacks, then you have already gained an advantage.

Lastly, remember that any models which Ramos summons during his turn cannot activate immediately, and must follow the normal order of a turn. So if he summons a Large Steampunk Arachnid, it will only have 7 Wd left. Do what you can with your activation to kill it before it can attack you. Be mindful that the Large Steampunk Arachnid has //(+1) Melee Expert//, so even after it is summoned, it can make 2 attacks if it starts in range.

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