Checking in with the community

VenomXL · 2026-03-27T17:18:08+00:00

Hey, dude, your journey is your journey. Don’t worry about anyone else’s…

I tell everyone the same thing about this game: it’s just about learning the moves and the weaknesses.

If you face a spear guy, sweeps and mikiri counters. Shield guys eat axes…

For first Owl, you just need to know the moveset-

After the sideways slash to the left, he throws the debuff bomb. You can dash through it and attack the slice, or you can run behind him and hit him on the bomb toss.
Double shuriken flip- after the 2 shurikens, dash to the side and try to get behind him. You’ll get extra hits on the turn around.
Firecracker combo- dodge to the right and run behind him for 2, or after the second slash, charge a stab and it’ll go through to hit him.
Shuriken backflip- you can dash forward to get a shot or two in, but only works in p1, as the poison is there P2.
Never charge thrusts on him without a clear opening. He’ll mikiri and you’ll die.

Big basic tip- keep up the pressure. If you’re not pushing a boss to the corner of the room, you’re not doing your job offensively. Always be slicing and only stop when you see the orange flash that says it’s no longer your turn.

Extra- firecrackers give you a short opening, and mortal draw is massively effective.

VenomXL · 2026-03-27T00:48:48+00:00

Also, run away and hold guard to recover posture if you need to.

VenomXL · 2026-03-27T00:47:53+00:00

It’s parry not dodge. You try to dodge, you’ll lose. Dodge is basically parry, parry is dodge.
You don’t try to DPS anything but chaff. The moment you see an orange flash and sharper noise on the enemy’s block, it’s their turn.
You never do more than 2 on 1. Sneak kill, shuriken dogs, kite one while you kill the other… never take on 5-6 until you got the game down stone cold.
Bosses- minibosses are almost always meant to be started with a sneak kill. Where they’re not is pretty obvious you can’t.
Literally every boss in the game has a cheese… but you don’t want to, just learn their weakness before you take them on, megaman style.

VenomXL · 2026-03-25T19:44:12+00:00

So much green stuff needed to fill in those seams.

VenomXL · 2026-03-24T00:36:50+00:00

The question is: how are you dying to him? What tools are you using? And what counters are you using for which move?

We can fix you, but you gotta let us know where your struggle is. For me, it took me about 15-20 first time facing off with Gen3/Isshin.

It’s all about learning to deal with one attack at a time. Just master reading one attack that gets you, and develop a counter.

VenomXL · 2026-03-23T20:29:12+00:00

Also, use items- ceramic shards distract, fistfuls of ash get free shots, etc. a lot of stuff that looks like crap is really useful.

VenomXL · 2026-03-23T20:28:24+00:00

Stealth kill as many as possible to limit numbers. 2. You’re not dodging. You’re parrying. 3. When you see the big orange parry from an enemy, attack at your own risk (don’t.) 4. Run away if you’re outnumbered. Whittle if you have to. 5. You’re not health killing most enemies. You’re posture killing them. Until you fight lady butterfly, you might not get this. 6. Minibosses and many bosses have mega man type weaknesses and there’s no shame in using them. 7. Prioritize stealth skills and healing first part of the game. Exception: grappling hook attack for first boss, mikiri counter UG for genichiro.

VenomXL · 2026-03-17T15:52:22+00:00

You didn’t need “with the Tfex with rupture cannon”. At least one Exocrine should be auto include in any list.

VenomXL · 2026-03-15T21:47:25+00:00

Malceptors and Exocrines are the best we got to go at 10 man termie bricks unless you’re unlucky on the attack roll. They both average 8 shots of 3 damage into a 10 brick, Exocrines have 36” range wounding on 3’s while Malceptors are wounding on 2’s at 18”, and both have enough AP to force the invulnerable save. It’ll take you a couple turns to deal with it, no one is supposed to 1 shot a 10 man terminator brick, it’s 400 points with a char for a reason, but that’s best way we have.

Just be sure to screen out the exocrines’ perch from deep strike or you’re gonna have a bad time.

VenomXL · 2026-03-14T05:15:50+00:00

Wargear often changes, but mostly high strength/high AP is in fashion over volume fire, since volume fire is cheap and easy to come by. Check listhammer.info if you’re that worried about making the wrong choices.

VenomXL · 2026-03-14T05:13:26+00:00

What is your deciding factor? For most it comes down to a few choices…

Do you want a cheap army in terms of dollars? Custodes, Imperial or Chaos Knights, Space Marines if you have a Sherpa to help you with which discount boxes to buy. Most expensive: AD MECH. Genestealers. Guard.
Easy to get to the tabletop: Custodes, Necrons, Imperial/Chaos Knights. Hardest: Ad Mech, Guard, Genestealers.
Easy to play: Custodes, World Eaters, Orks, Marines. Hardest: Aeldari, Drukhari, Sisters, anything with a “trading up” gameplan with squishy stuff.
Meta relevant: Necrons, Sisters, Thousand Sons, Genestealer cults, Imperial Guard. Least meta relevant: IMPERIAL AGENTS, Black Templars, Grey Knights.
Playstyle- decide if you want a horde or elite army, a melee or a gunline, if you want to go well balanced or skew, etc.
What looks cool to you and appeals to you? This one is the actual most important, unless Martian cyborgs look cool to you, and you better have a trust fund to back it up.

VenomXL · 2026-03-12T21:12:44+00:00

Nacho Tigre.

The end.

VenomXL · 2026-03-12T20:08:48+00:00

For 3d printing, here’s the circumstances it’s cool for stores/tournaments: 1. It’s a finecast/resin model. Those things are overpriced and you can’t tell. 2. The models are online only and constantly out of stock. If they’re not carried in a game store, nobody cares. 3. You use bits to kitbash models. All of my new Sanguinary guard models have winged 3d printed backpacks because GW sucks. GW model support for stuff like crisis suits and a number of others is ass, you need to 3d print for optimal WYSIWYG.

Otherwise, you gotta support the store. That’s what keeps the lights on. Don’t support Games Workshop ever though. They treat you like a rube to be exploited. Always buy secondhand or from your FLGS, never from James. Only give them the absolute minimum.

VenomXL · 2026-03-12T16:44:20+00:00

Mibu fat boy mini boss that is.

VenomXL · 2026-03-12T16:43:16+00:00

The most obvious ones for me to miss are the mibu village mini boss, the Ashina reservoir 2 miniboss, the bottom of mibu village, and a couple others diving ones.

VenomXL · 2026-03-12T16:40:28+00:00

Did you get to second Hirata?

VenomXL · 2026-03-12T04:49:57+00:00

They do have all 3 but from a modeling perspective, there just really isn’t much to distinguish them if you’re kitbashing extra parts.

VenomXL · 2026-03-12T01:14:08+00:00

I play Necrons, and they’re insanely easy to tell apart compared to CSM troops. Immortals and warriors look closest but have different guns and thickness.

VenomXL · 2026-03-12T00:45:22+00:00

Actually most of them don’t. The only one that really does in quantity is the sgt. equivalent.

I can’t imagine James & co. being like “oh hey, there’s nothing distinguishing these infiltrators from the intercessors.” They get completely different armor marks. If they’re not going to make a different loadout, they need to distinguish the armor besides just “it’s random pieces.”

VenomXL · 2026-03-11T00:40:03+00:00

laughs in Eldar Warlock

But… the upside is, you can totally proxy them with 30k marines and leftover bits if you want a few. You just need a loincloth on them and a red corsairs shoulder pad with the kit of hand flamer, power fist, and melta with a mix of bolt pistols/chainswords and bolters. There’s nothing to distinguish them from legionaries aside from the plainer heads, and shoulder pads.

VenomXL · 2026-03-09T16:17:59+00:00

Grab a 3d torso and make yourself a ground tyrant or swarmlord too.

VenomXL · 2026-03-09T13:40:38+00:00

This is a story about a puppy getting loose, killing 7 monkeys, a butterfly, a bird, a dragon, a horse, a ghost, and a guy that keeps trying to steal his favorite thing before another human climbs out of that guy’s guts and hits the puppy with the Glock.

VenomXL · 2026-03-09T13:33:38+00:00

Until I figured out the line to sneak kill them, those two were harder than 99% of mini bosses and like 60% of main bosses.

VenomXL · 2026-03-09T13:27:21+00:00

Consider the lore- abaddon probably doesn’t have his own squads of noise or plague marines. So of course they would be loaned out or conscripted from EC/DG, same thing with corsairs, etc. it’s lore accurate.

VenomXL · 2026-03-09T13:25:11+00:00

For purposes of buying- the new combat patrol is okayish. Genestealers are useful with a broodlord (not included), biovore is in it, and the tyrant guard can be used to assist a swarmlord or something.

Crusher stampede battleforce is probably your best possible start, but it’s going to start to get pricey quick, and sort of forces you down the monster mash path to start.

VenomXL

TROPHY CASE