Well, that was quite a shakeup in October! I figured that my deep dive wouldn’t necessarily be an “evergreen”, but I had no idea that so much would change so quickly! There haven’t been a lot of rule changes beyond point cost, but it’s still worth re-rating all the jacks in light of these updates and in context with the rest of the changes. This should be read as a companion piece to my prior article and will be mostly focused on the changes, not overall abilities. There’s also going to be a bit more granularity with this update. Away we go!
Deathripper
Grade A -> A+
It was always good and now it’s significantly cheaper than almost anything else. It actually has a negative effect on the most expensive arc nodes now since the point gulf is so large, but it’s a net benefit for Cryx players.
Helldiver
Grade: C -> C-
No changes made to it, but that does make it look worse in the context of other changes, as well as its loss of play now that Karchev2 no longer does out-of-activation movement. The Mortenebras are better and could possibly get some work out of it, but I’m not optimistic.
Shrike
Grade: C -> B-
It went down to 5 points, tied with the Deathripper as our straight-up cheapest jack, and that makes it actually pretty solid. It has good defensive stats for the point cost and is cheap enough to put in randomly in lists or even spam if you’re into that sort of thing. Infantry might become more common across all factions with the update as well, which makes the Shrike better. Something worth looking into.
Scavenger
Grade: C (Unchanged)
It’s cheaper, which makes it more spammable, and it still does what it always did. What it always did was attack single targets though and we have a lot more competition in our low-cost heavy slots for threat range, which keeps its utility about the same in context.
Nightwretch
Grade: B -> D
Going up to 2 points higher than the Deathripper is crippling, especially since 2 points almost buys you a great utility solo now. I’d still rate it better than the Defiler, but I really can’t see taking it now. The gun was always a sometimes thing. I’ll take it for 1 extra point, but not 2.
Ripjaw
Grade: C (Unchanged)
It’s our new “sometimes thing” at one point greater than the Deathripper. Its point cost basically “kept up with inflation” and its role and uses didn’t really change contextually with the rest of our jack stable.
Defiler
Grade: D (Unchanged)
It’s still bad for the same reasons.
Stalker
Grade: A (Unchanged)
A Stalker is a bit harder of a sell in light of our cheaper heavies, but it’s still unique in the tools it brings: Blessed Grievous attacks at a long base non-linear threat range. It’s still purpose-built, still great and nothing else we have can do what it does.
Cankerworm
Grade: B -> B-
Cankerworm always occupied a “cheap heavy” option slot in our roster despite being a light jack, and that category is a lot more crowded now. It still brings unique features and is definitely useful and fun, but the gulf between it and the next Pathfinder jack is a lot closer now. And we’ll get to that.
Slayer
Grade: A -> A-
The Slayer is still good. It’s still flexible, has great front-loaded output, and is still spammable if you still want to run that boat. However, unlike the Stalker, there are now a lot more similarly-priced options that can do what it does or something similar with different utility. It’s still cheap and good and the slight reduction in grade is less about it getting worse and more about other Cryx jacks getting competitive, which is great.
Inflictor
Grade: B -> A-
The same grade as the Slayer? Maybe. With its significant point drop, the Inflictor has some of the best defensive stats to cost ratios in the game with significant utility in Shield Guard and an excellent SPD 6 reach threat range profile. They’re still a bit pillow-fisted, so Slayers keep their niche in hitting harder and better for fewer resources, but Cryx has never had a problem with powering up our attack power and we can output a scary amount of armor with actually relevant defense now.
Reaper
Grade: C -> B
The Reaper got a huge upgrade not only in its point drop but also the universal change to Drag making the low power of its harpoon irrelevant. If the Slayer is the offense and the Inflictor is the defense, the Reaper is the threat and I think has a one-off place in a lot of Cryx lists. It still has to contend with the same weaknesses that Drag always had minus the damage failure, but it has the same melee threat range as the Inflictor at the very least.
Seether
Grade: C (Unchanged)
This was a disappointing change for many, I know, in that it still kept Uncontrollable rage. It dropped a point, but its 12/17 defense profile looks pretty bad in contest. Still, it hits hard, has a few more options to mitigate its weaknesses now that the Mortenebras are better, and the improvements to the Iron Lich Overseer actually makes the “Overseether” package reasonable. It’s still a niche choice, but not useless.
Corruptor
Grade: D -> C
Dropping to 12 points is nice. You actually get a decently priced long-range gun now and Burster is decent. Other than that, it’s the same as before. I’d actually rank it higher, except there’s another jack with a gun for the same points that’s much better…
Desecrator
Grade: B -> A-
I’m going to gush about these. I don’t know why they went down to 12 points, but I personally think they’re the best non-character heavy in Cryx now. The gun is great with an extremely relevant Scather, Pathfinder Steady is a lot cheaper, Grievous Wounds is often relevant, Shred wins games and Accumulator is a nice little add-0n for some cases. I will admit that they don’t have the same general melee prowess or melee threat of our Slayer chassis outside of a few specific casters, but they might be my favorite right now despite all that.
Barathrum
Grade: A (Unchanged)
He’s cheaper to keep up with the rest of the jacks around here, but still brings his great statline and unique abilities to keep his spot in most lists. His point reduction and that of Deathrippers DOES mean he loses his status as the designated heavy for a minimum battlegroup compared to other choices, but if that’s his worst problem, he’s great.
Malice
Grade: D -> D+
He’s still worse than the Reaper in all the same ways, and actually in one kind-of-worse way. Part of his increased point cost was the increased power of its Barbed Harpoon, a distinction that’s virtually irrelevant now with the Drag change. He’s technically better, but I still can’t see much reason to take it over a Reaper outside of fun matches.
Erebus
Grade: C -> C+
Dropping 3 points for its great defensive stats and auto-freeze claws is huge. It’s the same cost as Barathrum now. I’d want to rank it higher, but being stuck with BI and Scaverous is still kind of a restriction and because it doesn’t hit terribly hard still, I have a little trouble fitting it in lists. It’s a much better Scaverous partner these days outside of BI. I might be giving it too little credit.
Harrower
Grade: D-> C
I don’t think it’s the worst warjack in Cryx anymore. Does that make it good? Iiiiii don’t know if I can go that far. It’s got a distinct role from its other similarly priced options and you don’t pay out the nose for it anymore, but it still has the same weaknesses regarding the interaction with its melee capabilities and its gun. It’s a bit easier for it to get souls now with the Soul Ward nerf, which is nice. I still don’t like it much, but I can certainly see it on the table and there’s some nifty plays it’s capable of now.
Leviathan
Grade: C -> C+
The Leviathan went down in price and got one of our few back-of-the-card jack changes in trading Burst Fire for Volume Fire, essentially gaining more RAT against the targets it has the most business shooting at. d3 is still a thing. I hemmed and hawed about where to rank this one, but I eventually concluded that it’s much better with the casters that were already taking it and it’s not good enough for strong consideration for casters that weren’t. 14 points is actually pretty comparable to other faction’s big shot gun jacks (like the Defender and Hydra) that has at least double the output 2/3rds of the time. RAT 7 against large and huge bases means that your non-boosted attacks can hit reliably and your boosted attacks like with Skarre3 can start reliably hitting heavies in cover, which is quite significant. It’s a lot better and I’m more excited to play them, even if I’m not quite ready to expand my caster synergy list.
Kharybdis
Grade: A (Unchanged)
I already though this was the best character we had, and then it dropped 2 points and got the nifty ability to put up its acid cloud after running. No more trample-and-cloud necessity! The fact that the Aaikos models were also improved is a nice bonus. I kept it the same rank since our viable jack stable expanded significantly and it’s still contextually expensive, but it was always good and got better.
Nightmare
Grade: D -> F
This is the worst jack in Cryx now. 18 points for this profile is ridiculous. An informal dev chat revealed that this was intentional and the main reason was the innate MAT capability of Prey, but not only do we have a million ways to improve accuracy, but this worry falls flat with Erebus at 5 points cheaper. There is no reason to take this jack now, especially because for the same price, we have…
Deathjack
Grade: C -> B
Arguably the most improved in the whole update, in that casters that didn’t take it before might consider it now. It’s still contextually pricey, but paying a jack-and-a-half price instead of the price of 2 jacks for it is a way better deal for its utility and power. It’s also the new “designated heavy” for spellslingers in BI and Dark Host. Yes, it can go in Dark Host now and it adds some new dimensions for this theme that’s historically suffered from its lack of choices. I don’t think it’s the best or that it belongs in every list, but it’s going to see the table a lot more and I think that’s great.
Sepulcher
Grade: D -> D-
It went down a few points and gained Volume Fire on its Spikers like the Leviathan did, but it’s almost an insult without the expanded range. It went down 2 points where a pair of Leviathans went down 4, making it a comparatively worse buy (plus it’s the same cost as the superior Kraken). It takes the bottom 2 spot and might technically be worse than Nightmare, but I had no expectations of this thing while Nightmare broke my heart.
Kraken
Grade: B -> B-
The Kraken went down 3 points, is still a great long-ranged platform, and picked up a couple of nifty interactions with Karchev2’s new feat. However, being similarly priced to almost 3 of our 11-12 point heavy slots means you have to get a lot of work out of its long gun and melee range. It’s still a great upkeep target and keeps all the synergies with the casters that made it good, but it didn’t quite keep up with inflation the way most of our other heavy jacks did and that’s to its detriment, especially considering there’s a lot more reasonably priced competition in the ranged jack category with the Corruptor, Desecrator and Leviathan, something that the Kraken had a virtual monopoly on up to this point. It’s still great with Skarre2 though, especially in light of the Blockader changes.
Making Cryx Great Again 