While playing our first campaign, on our second Act 1 quest, my group encountered this deadly combo. Myself (Overlord), and the 2 hero players all agree that this seems particularly overpowered. I'm pretty sure this effectively makes the Reanimate the most powerful figure in the entire game. His attack is 1 blue, 1 red, and 2 yellows. He literally one-shotted Belthir in Death on a Wing, ending the scenario. Any thoughts on countering this? Does this remain this powerful throughout the campaign?

Even a Reanimate with Vampiric Blood alone is fairly powerful. Especially when the Necro can move, dismiss, Reanimate…then move the Reanimate and attack with it….essentially giving him an attack with the range of a double move and rolls blue, red, and yellow for damage. Absolutely deadly for hounding down figures the OL needs to keep alive.

Pretty sure Divine Fury does not work on the Reanimate since on it's card it says it cannot recieve any hearts, only the hero who controls it, so they would get the additional yellow power die, not the zombie. Also, you cannot get a free move by dismissing the Reanimate and then resummoning.

Page 17 of the rule book: "A hero player may activate each familiar his hero controls once during his hero turn (either before or after resolving all of this hero's actions.)" Emphasis FFG. The necromancer can begin his turn, activate his Reanimte (in your case make a move) but once your resummon it your turn continues as normal for the Necro and you cannot activate the reanimate again even if its resummoned. Sorry if my explanation is clunky, basically you are playing the Reanimate wrong. =) That's why it seems overpowered (even if played correctly, the Necro and his zombie are tough).

Oops, my mistake, I misread Necro for Reanimate when you mentioned moving. So, your analysis is correct. But still pretty sure Divine Fury doesn't work on the Reanimate since he is not considered a hero.

I believe the Reanimate is a special familiar and can be targeted by any skill, card, etc, that can target heros.

Edit: Just checked the rulebook. Since he is a familiar that counts as a figure, he can be targeted by "monster attacks, hero abilities, and overlord cards".

So I guess the question is does the Reanimate have to recieve hearts in order to get the benefit from Divine Fury? I'm thinking that you may be right, and that the Reanimate is even tougher than I first thought. That's good because I'm playing a campaign with a Necro and this opens up some great possibilites for us! Thanks for the post!

Edit: It's a tough one since Divine Fury specifically says "Each time you use Prayer of Healing on a HERO…" and while the Reanimate can be affected by hero abilities, he in of himself is not treated as a hero, so I'm not sure. As much as I like the idea, I'd have to go with it doesn't work on him since he is not a Hero. I'm open to other people's opinions.

I've also been having some second thoughts…..another important question is what does "hero abilities" encompass? Is that just the abilities on the hero card? Is that skills too?

BsnOne said:

From the rulebook, regarding familiars treated as heroes (page 18):

"Some familiars, such as the Reanimate, are treated as figures (as indicated by its Familiar card). These familiars block line of sight and movement,
but are considered friendly figures for hero movement. They may be targeted and affected by monster attacks, hero abilities , and Overlord cards that target a hero. "

They may be targeted AND AFFECTED BY hero abilities that target a hero. So yes, the Reanimate can unquestionably be targeted AND AFFECTED BY Divine Fury.

Commogroth said:

The term "ability" refers to any game effect a player can initiate. Any ability that a HERO can initiate is a "hero ability." So yes, this includes all skills as well as the abilities on the hero sheet, and for that matter, abilities granted by equipment or Search cards the hero may possess.

So yes, the Reanimate may be targeted by Divine Fury and no, it does not actually need to recover wounds to gain the extra power die. (Divine Fury says "each time you use Prayer of Healing on a hero…" it does NOT say the hero must have recovered wounds. You can equally well use Prayer of Healing on a hero that has full health and he would still get the bonus die from Divine Fury, so the Reanimate is safe in that regard.

Commogroth said:

This is undoubtedly a powerful combination. It does have it's drawbacks, however. For instance, the Necromancer must move TOWARDS the enemy forces in order to give the Reanimate this range. The Reanimate itself has a REALLY powerful attack, but it still has **** for defense, so it's easy enough for the OL to knock it down and then go attack the Necro who has kindly moved into the front ranks.

And, of course, if the Necro is re-summoning his familiar every turn then he isn't doing anything else himself. Especially if his other action is moving forward to get the Reanimate in position. The fatigue gained from Vampiric Blood (assuming the Reanimate one-shots everything) is being used to re-summon the Reanimate next turn, so it's not like he's even gaining that as an advantage.

AND the Disciple is blowing Prayer of Healing on the Reanimate (of all targets) each turn. As OL I would be laughing my ass off if the heroes insisted on doing this every turn. Position a nice, juicy looking master monster where the reanimate can hit it, which I can probably reinforce again when my turn comes around, and make sure to keep the important targets well out of reach. =P

The Overlord also has his own bag of tricks, including for example Pit Trap, Tripwire and possibly Web Trap, all of which can stop the Necro short and reduce the effective range of this combo. Or they could be used on the Reanimate directly, which is even more effective since familiars auto-fail attribute tests.

The Reanimate remains, as always, a glass cannon. It can be dealt with if your OL takes the time to think up some valid counter tactics.

Thank you for the in-depth response Steve-O. I'll be looking to use my traps to help me deal with the Reanimate in the future.

So, if the Reanimate can be affected by hero abilities, then he would be able to benefit from the Champion's ability to deal out Valor and use it to boost his attack even more and stop at least one wound per enemy attack?

"Yes, the Reanimate can be the target of Prayer of Healing, which would make iteligible to be affected by Divine Fury.Thanks,Justin KemppainenCreative Content DeveloperFantasy Flight Games[email protected]"

There we have it. Reanimates can be targeted by Hero skills.

BsnOne said:

Yes. All of the Champion's abilities are "hero abilities" by definition, so if they target a "hero" they can also target the reanimate.