M2E+Lelu


 * Lelu, Neverborn Enforcer**

=__Overview__= Lelu is a cheap Neverborn beat-stick option. He has particular synergy with his Twin, Lilitu, in conjunction with whom he can be quite devastating (though also very vulnerable!). Costing 7 Soulstones, he's best compared to the likes of Baby Kade or Tuco.

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=__Mobility__= Lelu's Wk is only 4, and his Cg is 6. His two Ml attacks have ranges of 1” and 2”, so on the face of it he is among the slower models on the table. However, his (0) action, **Lie in Wait**, as well as giving him Pounce, gives him a 3” push in any direction, for the cost of discarding a card, which means that he has a respectable threat range of 11” (3” push + 6” Cg + 2” Ml range).

=__Offense__=

**Melee**
Being in melee is Lelu's primary function. He has two (1) action Ml attacks, both useful. The first, his **Poisoned Claws**, are Ml 6 with a Rg of 2”; the damage spread is a solid 2/3/5, and also hands out **Poison + 2**. When Lelu has 5 or fewer wounds remaining, this attack has a positive flip. His second Ml attack is his **Vampiric Bite**. Though the range is only 1” and the damage only 1/2/4, it is Ml 7 with a built in mask, which means the //Drink Blood// trigger always occurs, with which Lelu heals the amount of damage the attack inflicts.

Lelu has no ranged attack options.

=__Resilience__= Lelu has Df 5, Wp 6, and 8 Wounds, as well as **Regeneration +1**. As well, his **Vampiric Bite** gives him a healing attack option. As well, **Black Blood** can make opponents unwilling to target him, like all Nephilim. If there is a friendly Lilitu on the board, Lelu can benefit from her healing, too. But he lacks the armor, hard to wound or hard to kill that a strongly resilient model has – like most Nephilim, he's better at offense than defense.

=__Upgrades__= Lelu, like Lilitlu, is unusual in being a Nightmare, a Nephilim, and a Woe. This means that as well as the generic Neverborn upgrades, they can take upgrades limited to models with these Characteristics. Pact (cost 1): allows you to cheat fate even if you flip the black joker. Situationally useful, but more useful on a figure for whom a black joker flip would be disastrous – for Lelu, it's probably only annoying. Nexus of Power (cost 1): friendly models within 6” heal 1 damage after using a Soulstone for something other than damage prevention. Probably more useful on your Soulstone-user. Obsidian Talons (cost 1): all friendly Nephilim gain a double-mask //Flay// trigger, allowing damage flips to be cheated even if negative. If you think //Flay// will be useful, Lelu might be a good place to put this. Depression (cost 1): gives all friendly Woes a Ca 5 attack to give the target the **Nobody Likes Me** condition, which prevents it from activating until all models without the condition have activated. It also gives this model a (0) action to discard a card and add the suit to all duels this activation. Lelu gets no benefit from the (0) action. On Dreaming Wings (cost 2): this model gains +1 Wk and all Nightmares within 6” gain **Flight**. Potentially useful, depending on the terrain and the schemes, though expensive – if you're taking Lelu, but are worried about his mobility, or if you're on a board where flying Nightmares will be especially useful, you might think about this one.

=__Tactics and Tips__= Lelu's Pounce is an effective way to get the most out of his vicious attacks, especially if you've got models with Lure in your crew – like Baby Kade, Beckoners, or his Twin Lilitu. If Lelu is in combat, it's worth letting him get hit a bit, so long as you're sure he'll survive – not only will he heal the damage, being wounded gives his **Claws** attack a positive flip. If you're moving into combat, whether by charge, walk, or Pounce, it's definitely worth getting within 1”, to give him the option of using both his melee attacks, and as well to make sure that his opponent gets hit with **Black Blood** whenever Lelu gets damaged.

**Using the Twins Together**

 * Same Malignant Force** is the ability that ties Lilitu to Lelu: any condition Lilitu gains or damage Lilitu heals, is also gained or healed by Lelu. **Same Oppressive Force** is the parallel abilitythat ties Lelu to Lilitu, in the same manner. Since both have **Regeneration +1**, and Lelu also has an attack that heals him, it's possible to heal an awful lot of damage very quickly. It also means that when Lelu uses his **Lie in Wait** (0) action to gain Pounce, Lilitu gains it too, and when Lilitu uses her **Whispers in the Blood** (1) action to gain a positive flip to all duels, Lelu gains this too. Together, they can become very dangerous, very powerful. In certain situations, you will want to activate Lelu first, to give Pounce to them both for when later Lilitu Lures someone towards them; other times, you will want to activate Lilitu first, to give Lelu a positive flip to his dangerous melee attacks.

However, **Same Malignant/Oppressive Force** is also the Twins's weakness. If one of the twins gains the any condition, you will need to discard two cards not to have the other gain it also. This can be devastating if one Twin gets the **Cursed Object** or the **Distracted** condition; likewise **Slow**, **Paralyze**, **Poison**, **Burning**, and so on. If the enemy crew has models who hand out conditions, you will need to keep the twins away from them; if all the enemy crew hands out conditions – if you're up against Sonnia or McMourning, for instance – the twins are in serious trouble. If Distract or Cursed Object is in the list of possible schemes, taking the twins is a real risk. Against crews that don't hand out conditions, they can be devastating.

**Synergy with Neverborn Masters**
Lelu, and Lilitu too, are unusual Neverborn in being Woes, Nightmares, AND Nephilim. They have, as you might therefore imagine, especially strong synergies with Pandora, Lilith, and The Dreamer. In general, people seem more likely to take Lilitu alone than Lelu alone, but Lelu can be situationally useful too. They also work well with other Masters, especially if you take them both, in the sense that they work quite well as a pair, independently of other models. As well, Lelu's pounce makes him an appealing option for any Neverborn crew with lots of actions that move the enemy around: Teddy's //Peekaboo//, anyone's Lure, etc., so certain versions of a Lynch crew, for instance, might find Lelu an appealing option. Pandora: Lelu makes a good cheap beatstick in a Pandora crew that is looking for models with attacks that target Df rather than Wp. As a Woe, Lelu can benefit from Pandora's Martyr ability, making him another bit tougher to kill. Though generally a Pandora crew might prefer Baby Kade for the same Soulstone cost, an isolated Lelu is perhaps more dangerous than an isolated Kade. Lilith: In a Nephilim crew, there's no danger of friendly models taking damage from Lelu's **Black Blood** ability. Lelu's Pounce works well with Lilith's Transfixing Gaze upgrade. The Dreamer: The best thing about Lelu in a Dreamer crew is that he can be summoned (if Dreamer has the Dreams of Pain upgrade): an 11 mask is needed to summon him, so it may take a Soulstone for the suit to do it, but a summoned Lelu/Lilitu combination will heal up very quickly and be a devastating 'free' addition to the crew. As Nightmares, they benefit from all the movement, healing, and other tricks that a Dreamer crew can offer. Collodi: While not the most obvious of choices Lelu can benefit Collodi Crews in a few ways. He can hold Nephilim only upgrades such as Rapid Growth or Obsidian Talons increasing the effectiveness of Terror Tots or Young Nephilim. Collodi can also give these models extra AP with a plus flip increasing the chances to grow and mature these models. Lelu paired Lilitu can also greatly speed up a Bag of Props list getting two sources of focus for collodi to steal for only 1 AP.

=__Playing Against Lelu__= Lelu, like so many of the Nephilim, is stronger offensively than defensively. If you can direct a few strong attacks at him, he should go down. He does, especially with a Lilitu or in a Dreamer crew, have regenerative and healing options, and remember that he gets more dangerous when wounded, so if you decide to take him out, doing so in a single turn is your best option – especially if you can get into combat without triggering his Pounce. He's not terribly mobile, on his own, so if it's possible to get him out of position, or simply stay away from him, or use slow/paralyze to minimize his options (make him use his AP to get where he needs to be, rather than attacking anything or interacting), then that too can be a good plan. If you let your models get Lured or Pushed into range of his Pounce, remember that you're effectively giving him a free AP, half an extra turn. Look for where your opponent is trying to set that up, and do what you can to avoid it. If you're playing against the Twins together, you can definitely use their Same Oppressive/Malignant Force qualities against them: get two Distracts for the AP cost of one, two Cursed Objects, Burning or Poison or Slow or Paralyze on two models at once, etc. Sadly, since crews are chosen after the scheme pool is established, you will almost never end up playing against a crew with the Twins, if Distract and/or Cursed Object are scheme options. Still, if you have lots of ways to hand out Slow and/or Paralyze (e.g., if you can park Candy next to one of them, and reliably cast **Incite** on it), you might find you prefer to keep the twins alive but their danger minimized or shut down, rather than committing resources to killing them. If you do decide to kill them, make sure you focus on one at a time and kill the first one quickly – the Twin that remains will have much less regenerative ability, and will be significantly less threatening, than will the pair, no matter how wounded each is.

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