Analyzing OTC Stryker2 List Builds

Continuing my Cygnaran armchair quarterbacking, I'm now analyzing the other popular Cygnar caster at the OTC. Haley3 was number three, but given that she was always in Gravediggers, and given that I don't personally have much interest in Haleys or in Trenchers, I'm skipping that one.

There were eight Stryker2 lists at the OTC this year, six in Storm Division, and two in Heavy Metal. Let's go through and analyze list composition.

Stormlances / Laddermore

Laddermore was in every single Storm Division list, as were Stormlances. Small surprise there. Four of the six lists included double max stormlances. One had a min and a max, and one had a single max unit of stormlances. It looks like stormlances are still the warrior model of choice for Stryker2.

Stormblades

Four of the six Storm Division lists had a single unit of Stormblade Infantry along with the Officer & Standard. Two went without. And there was also a single storm gunner in there, likely to use up those extra two points.

Sword Knights / Precursors

The two Heavy Metal lists each had a max unit of sword knights. But here's the weird thing. One of those had the sword knight command attachment as well as a min unit of precursor knights with its CA. This is the X-Planet list, and it's one of the oddest lists in here. Aside from the double centurions, which make more sense with Stryker1 than with Stryker2, the command attachments baffle me, as they're generally regarded as fairly useless.

Journeyman / Squire

In what should come as no surprise to anyone, the Journeyman Warcaster and the Squire are in every Stryker2 OTC list.

Mercenaries

Both Heavy Metal lists take Gibbs, who is a no brainer in a Stryker2 Heavy Metal list, because everyone loves overloading twice. The Storm Division lists mostly (5 out of 6) take Rhupert, but a single list does take a gobber tinker, probably because taking the ironclad rather than a lancer in Stryker's battlegroup has taken up the extra two points he could have used for Rhupert. I hope that poor soul gets by without the ability to arc rebuke.

Storm Strider

Easy to justify including in any list, the storm strider appears in 3 of the eight Stryker2 lists. Lets hope that the one guy who included one in a heavy metal list doesn't electrocute his sword knights.

Runewood

Runewood is in both of the two heavy metal lists, to buff the sword knights, grant Stryker pathfinder on assassination runs, and to add another source of magic weapons.

Stormblade Captain / Arlan / Savio

3 of the 6 Storm Division lists have a stormblade captain, and two of those three are taken as free solos. Only one Arlan appears in the Stryker2 lists. And Savio shows up in three of the lists, as a free solo every time.

Warjack Breakdown

Stryker's battlegroup included a single heavy in five of the eight lists, and had a lancer in all but two of them. One list had his battlegroup with two heavies, one with three, and one with no heavies, and just a ton of fireflies instead. Distributed amongst the Stryker2 lists were 9 fireflies, 4 centurions, 3 Ol'Rowdies, Two Stormclads, and one each of Ironclad, Sentinel, and Charger.

I was a bit surprised at all the centurions, but Rowdy with Stryker makes sense, as does a stormclad to capitalize on all the storm knights. The sentinel with Stryker also works well, because if you're planning to overload later, shield guarding that chip damage is a big deal. The fireflies make sure a strong showing for a few reasons. Firstly, because they're amongst the cheapest jacks to put on junior. Secondly, because they're a great, fast, cheap way to apply positive charge. And with positive charge, they also hit reasonably hard.

In Conclusion

Personally, I love playing Stryker2. I've just never been very good at doing it in a reasonable timeframe. On deathclock, I'd time out every single time.

Looking at the lists, it's easy at first glance to pick out the X-Planet list as an oddball with its unusual infantry selection, but the one I keep coming back to is the Muse list. Four fireflies on Stryker. While it's true that all too often the boring lists are the most effective, there might be something to this one. Jam with fireflies until it's go time. Then, positive charge a firefly and feat, run it, and then charge into a target with lances. That target gets a bunch of POW14 impact attacks, then some POW18 charges that WILL hit. Then, each gets a POW12 electroleap. And then come the feat attacks: another round of MAT9 POW16 lances. Each stormlance is averaging 12.5 damage on an ARM20 target, or 19.5 damage on an ARM18 target. Two lances could theoretically one-round a heavy this way. Three lances will. And this list has ten, plus laddermore. Not only that, if you're facing something other than hard targets, it's easy to spread these attacks out. Muse wins for my favorite Stryker2 list.