M2E+Sensei+Yu


 * Sensei Yu, Ten Thunders Henchman**

=__Overview__= Sensei Yu is a very mobile henchman who is mostly centered around helping the rest of the crew move more, and most important of all, lets you get more uses out of Leader (0) actions. He combines very well with Shenlong.toc

=__Mobility__= Sensei Yu has no **Cg** value but makes up for it with a huge **Wk** of 7.

He also has **Airburst,** which is geared towards moving friendly or enemy models around. It needs a six of any suit to cast and will push a target model up to 5” in any direction. Similar to his **Hurricane Punch**, this action also has a built in trigger to gain the **Focused +1** Condition after resolving.

=__Offense__= Yu is not necessarily an offensive powerhouse though he is no slouch. His **Brutal** ability couples well with his base card attack, **Hurricane Punch. Brutal** allows Yu to give out either **Burning, Poison, or Slow** when he succeeds on a **Ml** attack**.** His **Hurricane Punch** does average damage but packs the built in trigger to give Yu the **Focused +1** Condition after resolving. This happens even on a miss, which can make him dangerous when coupled with his abilities of **Master of Wandering River Style** and **Calm Air, Thunderous Voice.**


 * Wandering River** allows Sensei Yu and any friendly model within 3” of him to add 1 to his duel totals after removing the **Focused** Condition. **Calm Air** allows Yu to lower his **Focused** condition by one to take a (1) **Interact Action** without spending any **AP**. By far his (0) action of **Disciple** is one of the most useful. This allows Yu, on any unsuited 5, to take a (0) action that belongs to a friendly leader in play. When Shenlong is the leader, it allows Yu to gain two different conditions of his choice (**Defensive, Focused, Burning or Poison**), or it allows him to shuffle around his upgrades to change his style; choices for this are the **Low River Style**, **High River Style**, **Wandering River Style** or **Fermented River Style**.

=__Resilience__= Sensei Yu can be a tank. His **Df** 6 and 10 wounds coupled with Use Soulstone allows him to be able to take a hit, if you couple this with a free **Defensive** from the **Low River Style** upgrade he can be remarkably tough. Also one thing to note is that Sensei Yu cannot be moved or pushed by enemy models or abilities due to his **Laugh Off** ability. So Yu cannot be pushed by any enemy models, this includes being lured but does not stop being forced to **Walk** by **Obey**.

=__Upgrades__= The **Promising Disciple** upgrade for Sensei Yu is the one you will almost always want to buy because it does two things. **Journeymen of the Four Styles** allows Sensei Yu to attach an upgrade that Shenlong discards. This will mostly be used so that Sensei Yu can attach whichever Limited Style upgrade that Shenlong just switched away from, but it doesn't only apply to these upgrades. Consider using upgrades that require discarding on Shenlong such as Recalled Training and Servant of the 5 Dragons because Sensei Yu will be able to pick them up once Shenlong uses them, essentially giving you two uses of the same upgrade. While this ability only works with Shenlong the second ability works with any master and is a consideration if you're focusing on certain styles. **Flow Like Water** makes Sensei Yu immune to damage caused by Conditions and he can choose not to lower **Burning**, **Poison** or **Focused C**onditions during the upkeep step. Which can synergize well depending on which of the Limited upgrades you wish to take on him.

As a Ten Thunders henchman he also has access to **Broken Promises,** an upgrade that helps to keep Sensei Yu alive for a turn. This lets Sensei Yu discard the upgrade at the start of his activation the upgrade to gain the **Betrayal** condition. This gives a -flip to all attack actions that target Sensei Yu for the rest of the turn. This greatly increases Sensei Yu's durability for a turn, but it demands that he activates early to set it up.


 * Recalled Training** is an Upgrade that gives Sensei Yu a burst of effectiveness. It allows him to discard the upgrade at the start of his activation to get + flips on all duels and flips for the rest of the turn. This does make Yu's Ca actions be more reliable for a turn as well as making his Hurricane Fist a lot more reliable at getting straight damage flips, but the lack of a **Cg** stat really limits how much utility Sensei Yu can actually get out of the upgrade and Yu isn't really the most damaging of models. It also helps with survivability, adding +flips to Df and Wp duels and even Healing flips.


 * Servant of the 5 Dragons** is an utility upgrade that gives +1 **Wp** and you can discard at the start of Sensei Yu's activation to discard all scheme markers in a 3" pulse from him. 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. The +1 **Wp** gives Sensei Yu a very respectable **Wp** of 7, against **Wp** heavy crews it can certainly be worth considering. The discard aspect can also be very powerful with Sensei Yu thanks to his ability to quickly cover 14" without any assistance to prepare to discard scheme markers at the start of his next activation. Can be worth considering on scheme heavy games.

Sensei Yu can also start with **Low River Style**, **High River Style**, **Wandering River Style** or **Fermented River Style**, each of which will be discussed in more detail in the Shenlong Tips and Tricks section. While you can take them without Shenlong and the **Promising Disciple**, Upgrade, you will be stuck in one style for the entire game.

Finally, consider upgrades on your Master that increase their repertoire of (0) actions. For example, Shenlong might take **Words On The River**, giving Yu the ability to end a Poison or Burning and draw cards equal to its value.

=__Disciple Tips and Tricks__=

Shenlong
Shenlong and Sensei Yu synergize strongly. Shenlong's Wandering River Style will easily let him push Yu into combat

Most importantly, they can cycle Style upgrades continuously.

**The upgrade cycle**
Sensei Yu can copy Shenlong's (0) **Monk of Many Styles** that lets him switch between the four Limited Upgrades representing different styles. This model may discard a Limited Upgrade it has attached on it in order to attach the new Limited Sensei Yu upgrade. In addition, if a friendly model (read Shenlong) has the Upgrade attached, the friendly model discards it and attaches it to Sensei Yu.

NOTE: You will need to start with one of the Limited Styles, or take the **Promising Disciple** Upgrade on Sensei Yu, in order to switch them about. Without Shenlong and **Promising Disciple**, you will be stuck in one style for the entire game. If you start with **Promising** **Disciple,** you don't need to also bring a Limited Style on Sensei Yu, as long as Shenlong switches his upgrade before Sensei Yu activates, so Sensei Yu can pick up Shenlong's starting style.

Picking between styles:
 * **Low River Style**: Keys on **Defensive**. Heals models (including Sensei Yu possibly) and removes Conditions. Use to defend and heal, such as when holding territory.
 * **Fermented River Style**: Keys on **Poison**. Reverses positive and negative twists for Yu, and gives enemy models **Wk** duels or they suffer negative flips. Use against Ressers especially, or when you need to turn a combat disadvantage around.
 * **High River Style**: Keys on **Burning**. When he has **Burning**, Sensei Yu can take damage to raise duel totals, even after final duels. Gives a powerful kick attack that transfers **Burning** to enemies. Use when Sensei Yu is in personal combat and needs to dish out a lot of damage. (If Sensei Yu takes too much damage from using this, he can switch to **Low River Style**.)
 * **Wandering River Style**: Keys on **Focus**. Gives free actions based on **Focus**. Move Scrap, Scheme and Corpse Markers, and push models. Can give a target **Fast** and **Slow**. Use to speed up crewmembers, to move enemy models into position, or to get VP.

**Low River Style** (Limited)
The defensive upgrade. Grants an ability that give Sensei Yu +1 **Defensive** if he succeeds on a duel with an enemy model. As well as, the (1) tactical action **Stones on the River,** which is cast on 6, and will heal a friendly model 2 damage and removes one condition. The action also has a trigger on a ram (built in), which will let you heal 2 damage on a friendly model within 6" by lowering Sensei Yu's **Defensive** condition by 1. Since this is a tactical action, Sensei Yu can target himself and heal quite a lot of damage.

**Fermented River Style** (Limited)
A control upgrade, which is good against Ressers and other models with **Hard to Wound**. Sensei Yu receives the **Drunken Kung-Fu ability**, which is quite a lot to get your head around. As long as Sensei Yu's has the **Poison** condition, he will treat all +flips as -flips, and will treat all -flips as +flips. For example, if you are tying an opposed duel where you are the attacker, you will actually make a ++flip and not a --flip for damage.

Sensei Yu also gains the (1) tactical action **Stumble**. Sensei Yu casts this on a 7 of any suit, and the action sends out a pulse of 4” that will force all enemy models, within range, to take a **TN** 11 Walk duel. If they fail, they will receive the condition **Unsteady** until the end of turn. The condition will make the enemy model suffer -flips to all duels. The action also has a trigger on a crow (built in), which let Sensei Yu lower his current **Poison** condition by any amount. For each point of **Poison** lowered, you get to increase the **TN** on the Walk duel to a maximum of 5. The action and ability works very well together. **Stumble** is good debuffing enemies in order for your crew to take them out easier.

**High River Style** (Limited)
The offensive upgrade of the lot, which lets Sensei Yu dish out some blast damage. First, it grants Sensei Yu the **Burning Chi** ability, which can only be used if Sensei Yu has the **Burning** condition. When Sensei Yu is performing a duel, immediately before determining success, it may suffer up to 3 damage to increase its final duel total the same amount. The downside is that the 3 damage may not be reduced or prevented, and if Sensei Yu is reduced to 0 wounds while using this ability the action fails (and Sensei Yu is killed).
 * Burning Chi** can result of some mind tricks with your opponent. As long as Sensei Yu has a sufficient number of wounds remaining you can really turn the outcomes of duels. For instance, if you are the defender, have already cheated, and your opponent is tying your result (or exceeding yours with one or two), you can increase your duel total 1 (-3) damage and win the duel. It is still a trade of, but against certain, beefier models, it might be the easy way out.

Sensei Yu also gains the (1) **Lighting Kick** attack action. It has a really neat **Ml** range of 3", **Ml** stat of 6 with a ram built in, and is resisted on defense. It only does 1/3/4 damage, but will let you place one blast marker on moderate, and two on severe. The attack also has a trigger on rams, after succeeding against an enemy, which will let you lower Sensei Yu's **Burning** condition by any amount. For each point of **Burning** lowered, the target will get **Burning +1** to maximum of **+3**.

The attack action lets Sensei Yu have some board control with a larger **Ml** range, and the threat of getting blast markers out, which will also make your opponent think twice about bunching up and attack in groups.

**Wandering River Style** (Limited)
A control upgrade, which will let Sensei Yu to push both friendly and enemy models around, in addition to some marker manipulation.


 * Calm Air Thunderous Voice** is an ability that will let, once per turn during Sensei Yu's activation, lower his **Focus** condition by 1 to take a (1) **Interact** action without spending any action point. This is a bit redundant, since Sensei Yu already has the ability

Sensei Yu will also get the (1) **Mighty Gust** attack action. It is cast on a 6 of any suit, has a tome built in, is resisted by Wp with a range of 6", and it may only target the same model once a turn. It lets you remove up to three Scrap, Scheme, or Corpse markers within 3" of the target. The target is pushed up to 5" in any direction, and the removed markers are placed within 3" of the target. The attack has two triggers, and both hit on the built-in tome but require spending **Focused +1** to achieve. Depending on which one you choose, after succeeding you can give the target either Fast or Slow. It is a way to get points from schemes like **Plant Explosives** or **Spring the Trap**. Finally, since **Mighty Gust** is similar to **Airburst,** but not the same action, you can use both attacks on the same model for some extreme mobility--up to a 10" push!

If you're going to play with the Upgrade cycle, consider keeping the Kamaitachi near Shenlong or Yu; once per turn, one of the will draw a card, heal 2 Wd, and push 3", all for free, when swapping Upgrades.

It's also possible to cycle Sensei Yu's style using Terracotta Warriors who can switch upgrades on friendly models for upgrades of the same cost. This requires a bit more of an investment, so it probably best saved for when you want to bring Yu without Shenlong.

Brewmaster
Sensei Yu works well with Brewmaster when carrying **Fermented River Style** and **Promising Disciple**. His (0) action allows him to use Brewmaster's **Drinking Contest** aura and possibly put a lot of models on negative flips for all duels. **Drunken Kung Fu** gives Sensei Yu a lot of damage potential as well.

Jakob Lynch
The biggest benefit it gives Jakob is the ability to use **Mulligan** twice per turn which aside from the card control, should help reduce the need to use soulstones to draw cards. This is specially useful if Jakob has the **Woke Up With a Hand** upgrade, which incentives him to activate last, since you can now rotate your hand without having to wait till your final activation if you want to draw the 2 extra cards. **Disciple** works well with Jakob's **Pay Up** Tactical Action as well, giving you 2 chances to draw Masks for every model with Brilliance.

Misaki

 * Disciple** only really contributes if you take the **Stalking Bisento** upgrade. It does allow Yu to be able to **Stalk** a model, giving him some impressive mobility and killing power. Misaki's Downburst can also sometimes used to get Yu into combat without needing to charge.

Lucas McCabe
Sensei Yu's **Disciple** is good with the **Take This!** action, letting him pass off McCabe's upgrades after benefiting from them himself. He could receive the **Glowing Sabre**, use it in his activation (taking advantage of **Brutal** to make it more lethal) and then pass it on to another model that could get good use out of it as well as pushing it. He could use the **Badge of Speed** to benefit from **Nimble** and then pass it over to another model who could also get to use the free **AP** as well as the push from **Take This!** The Same applies to the **Elixer of Life**, letting Sensei Yu heal a bit with **Regeneration +2** and then passing the upgrade over to another model that needs healing, as well as allowing him to be **Unimpeded** while he still has the upgrade.

Yan Lo

 * Instill Youth** is a great use of **Disciple** here, allowing Sensei Yu to heal any target model an amount equal to the difference in the final duel total. This can give out a lot of healing in a Yan Lo crew, especially if you also take **Low River Style** to allow Sensei Yu to be able to heal with all his possible AP.

In a less common scenario, the Soul Porter can manage to give **Chi** to Sensei Yu and he can copy the **Ascendancy** action to be allowed to attach an **Ascendant** upgrade in exchange for the **Chi** gained. It's not too far fetched to get one **Chi** on him and let him Ascend the **Path of Ash**, giving him **Impossible to Wound** and **Terracotta Curse**; this makes him a lot more resilient and gives him even more board control.

Mei Feng
Mei Feng only really gives any benefit to Sensei Yu if the **Hard Worker** upgrade is in play. It lets him copy the **Precise Assault** action which would let him ignore **Armor** and **Hard to Wound** for the rest of the turn if he discards a card--which will instead be shuffled into the deck. Not something to be too excited about, but it can still be useful.

=__Tricks and Tips While Leading a Crew__= (with subheadings, usually referencing specific spells, abilities and important combos)

Strategies and Schemes
(General overview, then maybe specifics on what strategies/schemes are good and bad)

Building a Crew
(What sort of minions work well or don't work well with the Henchman, overall advice.

Starting [Henchman]
(Insert some blurb about what the starter box comes with if there is one, the first 1-3 recommended purchases, and why) (Could also start with a quick overview on the Henchman's general difficulty level)

=__Playing Against Sensei Yu__= Sensei Yu can come in a lot of packages depending on his master and on his upgrade selection. He usually does support and movement tricks, though is not limited to that. Killing him shouldn't be too hard, but does require a concerted effort, especially if he has the **Low River Style**, which gives him **Defensive** and healing.

With the **Promising Disciple** upgrade, he can't be **Poisoned** or **Burned** to death--though it does not protect him from effects that cause damage based on the condition without actually using it (like McMourning's **Expunge** action or Kaeris's **Engulf** trigger).

One of the best ways to cripple him is to kill the master, since a big part of the reason to bring Sensei Yu in a crew is his **Disciple** ability. This is easier said than done, but should really be a lingering thought in your mind when evaluating how annoying Sensei Yu is and how many resources it would take to remove him.

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