Warcaster Profile: Zerkova

An interesting caster, not geared towards melee or range, but very much a spell casting caster, or as most people on the forums seem to say, the worst Khadoran caster. First I'd like to just say to all those people who refer to Zerkova as such a poor caster, try actually playing using her, if you are going to actually get the true measure of how a model works and how good it actually is use it, rather than slating it. Anyway rant aside, Zerkova is something of an oddity given that she is a caster who flings out spells like a Cygnar army shoots, or a Protectorate army synergises, in a faction where the only available arc node is a companion for another caster (Old Witch and Scrap Jack). While at first glance this may be somewhat off putting I find it to be quite fun to work around given her abilities that can work around that and play to her strengths.



As far as stats go Zerkova has average SPD, low STR and averaging DEF and ARM, while a little lacking on damage boxes she makes up for it by being at the top end of Focus in Khador and brings enough warjack points to get a free Beserker. Essentially this means that if at all possible never let your opponent pin Zerkova down in melee, she doesn't have the tricks to survive if she doesn't kill her targets.

One of the things that really grabbed me when reading her entry in the forces book was her feat. In short it shuts down the enemy army for an entire turn, reading a little deeper, it stops initial ranged attacks, spell casting, special actions, running and charging, leaving your opponent two options (three if they are lucky), one advance, two attack in melee, this will only really become an issue if your opponent has either very fast models or Reach models, although the feat stops initial ranged attacks it doesn't stop your opponent buying additional attacks, so be wary of those guns with ROF 2+ or guns that have enough range not to be caught in Zerkova's control radius and still be able to shoot her (to name two Defenders and Deliverers), also if playing a Lightning based Cygnar army watch for Stormcallers and anything with Electro leap as Stormcallers tend to be far enough away to be out of Zerkova's control radius and Electro leap will still occur as long as the original target is outside of Zerkova's control radius (although I'm not certain if the jump still occurs when it starts to effect models beyond the first hit inside Zerkova's control radius).

Zerkova's weapons really aren't spectacular, bringing Rod of Whispers, essentially a magical blunderbuss (same RNG and POW) which can prove useful for dealing with the odd Pistol Wraith if all else fails and Quietus, a magical sword that automatically causes Stationary to a warjack that is hit by it with low POW, while this at first may look like a brilliant ability, don't make a plan that hinges on this ability as if the jack is still standing next turn it only needs one focus to shake off the effect and squash Zerkova, however it does lend itself well to situations where ordinarily units that would struggle to hit certain jacks with out Combined Melee/Ranged Attacks (Kossite Woodsmen) can suddenly become very useful for removing such models or at the very least pinning them in place whist the rest of you army works around them.

Moving on to her abilities, Zerkova comes with Immunity Cold (one of the few Khador models that does), Pathfinder, as well as an Orgoth Seal and several Arcane Artifacts. The Orgoth Seal is one of Zerkova's main features, causing magic attacks targetting her to lose 3" RNG as well as causing the attacking model d6 points of damage if the attack hits, this works with spells cast by troops with the Magical Ability such as the Vassal of Menoth or Jouneyman Warcaster, as well as affecting friendly models (so using Zerkova as a taget for Frostbite to hit other models isn't such a wise move), also it's worth noting that even with the RNG debuff spell AOEs still have the chance to hit with a lucky scatter, which combined with Zerkova's ARM means even a boosted POW 8 will be pretty painful. Her Arcane Artifacts allow Zerkova to apply an effect once per casting of a spell for each artifact, giving up to three spells per turn gain one of the following effects: Focus Sphere, reduces the cost of a spell by one focus, this should be used every turn, pushing Zerkova's focus to the same level as eHaley is great for such a caster oriented caster. Ghost Stone allows the spell to ignore LOS and Stealth, granting a 360 degree front arc, but doesn't ignore the cover or conealment bonuses, otherwise this allows Zerkova to threaten a far greater area and cause major headaches for armies reliant on stealthed units or models. Lens of Tarvodh grants a RNG buff, which is useful given that Zerkova has to stay close to the front line due to the lack of any arc nodes.

Zerkova has one of the largest arrays of spells that Khador has to offer. Banishing Ward removes enemy upkeeps from your units or models, this spell becomes even better when you factor in that it can be upkept stopping the affected unit or model being targeted by enemy spells or animi (great on Kayazy Assassins when facing a Protectorate army using Death Sentence (debuffs DEF and allows rerolls to hit)). Force Blast pushes all models within a 2" of a targeted model in the caster's battlegroup 4" away, this makes it useful as both a defensive spell, to allow models to get out of a melee they don't want to be in or offensively to move enemy models into better positions (like pushing non-pathfinder models into a forest). Icy Grip, is an upkeepable DEF debuff that also prevents the unit or model hit from running or using special attacks, a very useful tool to make sure you neutralise a unit, don't rely on it to slow a unit down however, it only prevents running not charging. Influence, has a very low cost spell that allows you to target a model then move a small distance and make a single normal melee attack, if you can target a weapon master model do so, as the more damage you can do with this spell the better as after you cast this spell once your opponent will be sure to be wary of it and will try to limit your options with it. Razor Wind provides a decent ranged spell that provides another way of dealing with incorporeal modelsand when used with Zerkova's artifacts this can become a very powerful spell capable of threatening casters and providing a useful assassination tool. Twister is an offensive spell with a medium AOE and relatively low POW , the AOE stays in play for a round as a cloud effect which can be extremely useful as a method for giving models such as shield walled Man o War Shocktroopers or Khadoran jacks as they're unlikely to be damaged by the spell. Finally, Watcher allows a model in the caster's battlegroup to make a full advance and a boosted attack roll when a model moves within 6" of the caster, a great boon to Zerkova's survivability, it's worth noting that this is an upkeep and only wears off after the attack is made, you are allowed to take the movement and not the attack and the spell doesn't go away.

As mentioned before Zerkova is a spell caster type of caster and with her spells she is excellent at playing the control game. In scenario play Zerkova is excellent, run a devastator up to an objective then cast Force Blast to clear models off an objective and then hold it, Twister combined with Gorman Di Wulfe and Greylords can create a line of cloud effects almost spreading the width of the table (37" in the best case scenario). Watcher is another great spell, which also determines what warjack you choose to field with Zerkova as the boosted attack rolls work very well with models with critical effects (Beast 09 or Juggernaut) or chain attacks (Kodiak or Beserker, both are also good as they are very focus efficient) as well as models with reach (Spriggan or Beast 09), alternatively as the attack doesn't have to be a melee attack both the Destroyer and Decimator are decent options (especially the Decimator given it's gun having Beat Back, pushing the model hit 1" and the Decimator moves 1"). Given Zerkova's reliance on spells it's well worth looking into taking either Sylys Wyshnalyrr or the War Dog, Sylys to grant extra benefits for her spells and a free up keep, alternatively the War Dog is a second layer of defence added to a jack under the influence of  Watcher.

Overall Zerkova is a tough caster to play with, being both incredibly fragile and needing to play quite far up front, however with the right army build this weakness can be overcome and turned into a strength if played right, if you have played Old Witch and liked how she plays, try Zerkova with Banishing Ward she will force Cryx and Protectorate armies to rethink the way they play when you shut down their offensive spell casting options. With the No Quarter tier list available Zerkova has new options available such as Vanguard light Merc jacks, combining Reach, Shield Guard (forces the first ranged attack targeting a model with in 2" of the Vanguard to target the vanguard instead) and a gun shield with decent POW, as well as having Gorman Di Wulfe available in tier, making a tier army fielding Zerkova a force to be reckoned with.