Avatar+Sonnia

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 * Sonnia, Guild Avatar of Conflagration**

=Overview= While she still retains her abilities to hunt down mages, Sonnia gains synergy with burning tokens and improves in every way in her avatar form.

=Manifesting= Sonnia must inflict 10 Wd on enemy models with Spells, and/or successful cast **Inferno** twice. The requirements aren't hard, especially as they require her to do things she already should be doing - laying waste to enemies with spells. While she doesn't transform her style of play dramatically like Rasputina does, that's not a problem in the least. Sonnia's avatar form is a direct upgrade in every single way, so make it a priority to Manifest her as quickly as possible. If anything, the second requirement is easier to fulfill, especially with a Desperate Mercenary giving a net benefit to casting **Inferno**.

=Mobility=

Her average Walk/Charge of 4"/6" doesn't change, but she gains //Flight//. It may not seem like a significant bonus, but being able to maneuver while all but ignoring terrain is extremely useful on a caster who wants to get into a comfortable position before throwing fireballs. With //(+2) Casting Master//, she can afford to use one or both of her general AP moving around before starting to (pun intended) open fire.

=Offense=

**Melee**
While this isn't Sonnia's specialty, her Salamander is still a decent weapon up close. The 3" range on it is impressive and while the Cb 5 of Rams isn't too eye opening, it's serviceable. Most importantly, if she gets a Mask in her Cb she can inflict her opponent with the **Horrific Burns** trigger. This automatically allows you to push the defender up to 3" away from Sonnia and then force enemy models within 5" of where the defender lands to make a Wp 12 duel. In addition to the trigger, this weapon ignores //Armor// and applies a Burning Token to an enemy it hits.

**Spells**
In Avatar form, Sonnia's (+1) Casting Expert is improved to (+2) Casting Master, allowing her to create a variety of explosive effects. As //Adaptive Mind// allows her to choose the Rams or Tomes suit to add to her Ca (but not both!), it becomes easier for her to manage her hand suits.


 * Searing Wave**: Being her only (0) spell, Searing Wave can't be used twice in the same activation. That's quite unfortunate, considering how powerful it is! Requiring a ten or higher of any suit, it creates an eight inch pulse that affects only enemy models. Any enemy losing their resist duel suffers a 2/3/4 damage flip that can't be cheated, which is great for a free action. It gets even better when an enemy has Burning Tokens; they suffer +1 Dg on top of the flip for each Burning Token, making this spell a potential board wipe.


 * Light 'Em Up**: The first of her (1) spells and useful to turn on her other abilities.It requires a 6 or higher of either Rams or Tomes to cast and puts a Burning Token on a model and one additional model per Tome in the Ca flip. Although it does no direct damage by itself, it's almost always useful to spend one of your free Casting AP in order to make Searing Wave deal that much more damage.


 * Pyre**: The second of her (1) spells and an improved version of //Flame Wall//. It requires a 6 of any suit to cast and creates two 50mm Pyre Markers at least 1" from any model. While they're effectively the same as Flame Pillars in terms of height, damage, and being obscuring, Pyre Markers remain until Sonnia casts the spell again. Being a permanent deterrent is a huge bonus and they give out Burning Tokens to anyone passing through them, again improving the damage from //Searing Wave//. Most importantly, she can move an already placed Pyre Marker up to 2" in any direction as a (1) action. This means she can force them on top of a model and unless they move before they activate, they're guaranteed to take 3 Dg.


 * VIolation of Magic**: Sonnia still retains her signature spell and can cast it with a 9 of either Rams or Tomes, depending on which suit you choose with //Adaptive Mind//. While her new spells can be eye-catching and flashy, never forget that if it's possible to turn someone into a Witchling Stalker, do so. Sometimes there's nothing more satisfying than making one big kaboom after another, but a free 4 Soulstone model that excels in melee is even better.

=Resilience= While defense is not her specialty, Sonnia's resiliency still improves in Avatar form. Her Df gets a slight improvement to 5, but is still nothing special. As an added bonus, living models have to make a Wp 13 duel when making melee strikes against her. If nothing else, it forces the opponent to flip more cards and if they fail, they get a negative twist to their attack flip. Sadly, her new Salamander weapon does not heal her on hit like her Runed Blade does, but her best defense in this form is threatening to kill everything next to her in one activation.

When it comes to spells, she grants other friendly models +1 to their spell resistance total. Nobody is more resilient than she is to magic, as befits her title. When she or a friendly model within 3" are targeted with a spell, she may activate //Blazing Counterspell// and discard two control cards or one card with the Tomes suit to cancel the spell before it can even start. On top of canceling out the spell, the attempting caster takes 2 Dg. Along with being able to simply wave away enemy spells, if she does get hit she still has her //Magic Resistant 2// and is immune to Burning Tokens thanks to //Ablaze//.

If you feel confident enough to not cast //Searing Wave//, Sonnia can instead use her (0) action on //Feast on Fire//. Discarding all Burning Tokens on models within six inches, she heals 1 Wd per Burning Token. Remember that if Sonnia is forced to beat a retreat, she can cast //LIght 'Em Up// on her own models to generate Burning Tokens and then heal herself off of them. Since Burning Tokens are merely an effect catalyst, her models lose nothing and she only loses the AP she spent to heal up.

=Soulstones=

While she still benefits a fair amount from Soulstones, Sonnia is by no means reliant on them. The best uses for them are to try and win the initiative flip to wreak as much havoc as possible with her and pumping up the total for //Violation of Magic// to try and guarantee the spell lands. Well, that, and keeping her alive once the enemy crew starts putting on the pressure.

=Tricks and Tips=

Never neglect her ability to quickly heal herself without the use of Soulstones! Being able to hand out up to eight Burning Tokens, but more realistically four or six after a Walk or two, she can then //Feast on Fire// to heal as many Wds as there are Burning Tokens.

//Pyre// is a fantastic spell for blocking off enemies from objectives and then dealing damage. Use them to cut off the enemy crew in a sea of fire and then have Sonnia mop up the inside. Never forget you can adjust one of them 2" a turn. Early on, she should be casting //Pyre// as one of her Casting Master actions. There's always a beneficial place for a towering pillar of fire to be placed.

=Avatar and their Crew=

Avatar Sonnia loves her some Witchling Stalkers. She gets to potentially make more of them and that ability naturally leads to her favoring the Witchling Handler for her synergistic benefits. As her signature models and their Handler are excellent up close, it can really make life a nightmare for your opponent - stay from afar and get lit up or come close and risk being torn to pieces?

=Playing Against Avatar Sonnia= Never, ever try to cast anything on Sonnia Criid in Avatar form. It doesn't matter how high your Ca total is or how potent the spell - she can toss the Ace of Tomes over her shoulder and make you take 2 Dg. This benefit extends to models within 3" of her, so try to pick off the guys outside of that radius as she can't bunch up her models like Hoffman and expect to succeed. It's always preferable to fight her from a range with snipers and formidable gunslingers, as getting up close risks fighting her strong melee crew and there's no guarantee of being successful considering //Oppressive Heat.//

Always be mindful of //Pyre// and her ability to move them around for damage. If she moves them underneath one of your models, consider using ways to safely move them off before they activate. Spells like //Issue Command// and //Obey// can safely move your models away.

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