Heroic Heroes: Top 10 Heroes for Heroic Strike

Good morning gamers,

Well, we're closing out the year with the specialized heroic action you've been waiting for: Heroic Strike! Ah, Heroic Strike - the specialized heroic action that seemed so stupidly powerful when my mates and I looked at the Hobbit SBG rules that we said, "No thanks - we'll stick with the Legions rules and the big blue rulebook." In the new edition, Strike isn't available to all heroes and so becomes an interesting part of list building theory and meta-gaming. But how useful is it anyway? For more on this topic, you should check out Rythbryt's series on Heroic Strike, where he delved into how useful this heroic action really is (and covers a lot of other things too - things that can make your Heroic Strikes more powerful AND things that can make countering Heroic Strike easier without having to call a Strike in return).

What Does the Heroic Action Do?

Heroic Strike, like Heroic Defense and Heroic Strength, is pretty straight-forward: the hero who calls Heroic Strike in the Fight phase increases his Fight Value by D6. Like all heroic actions, Heroic Strike is called at the start of the Fight phase, but your increase in Fight Value isn't determined until the fight involving that hero is selected to be resolved. This is important because if a F3 Meriadoc, Captain of the Shire calls a Heroic Strike against someone like the Witch-King of Angmar, the Witch-King will need to decide whether to counter-call a Heroic Strike BEFORE knowing if Merry got a 1-2 and retained a lower/tying Fight Value to the Witch-King's original Fight Value of 5. Counter-calling a Strike might be the "safe" way to go, but it would also mean foregoing a Heroic Combat (something the Witch-King is likely to succeed in pulling off if he's on the charge with the Crown of Morgul - and certainly possible if he's riding a Fell Beast).

This increase in Fight Value is also determined before the players choose whether or not they are using any special strikes - so a model armed with a sword or dagger (most models with Heroic Strike have these kinds of weapons) can Strike up to a high Fight Value and then choose to Feint to lower their Fight Value if they're fighting warriors (or low-Fight heroes) in order to not only get a higher Fight Value, but also reroll 1s on their To Wound rolls. Neat, huh?

When Do You No-Kidding-Actually-Use-It?

It is tempting to think that you call Heroic Strike whenever you have a lower Fight Value than your opponent. Many heroes with high Fight Values (Azog, Dragons, the Balrog, Sauron, Gil-Galad, Elendil - you get the picture) are combat beasts and so getting a high Fight Value against these models is a good idea. However, what happens when you're fighting against a hero who not only has a high Fight Value, but is also hard to wound (like Sauron)? Is it still a good idea to call a Strike "just to stay alive"? Sometimes, but not necessarily.

As Rythbryt discussed in his exposition on Heroic Strike, if you have other heroic action options (like Heroic Defense), you may be better served calling that instead of calling a Heroic Strike because it's more likely to keep you alive than a Strike will. Since most heroes call Heroic Strikes from F5-6, getting to F10 is not a guarantee (50% chance at F6, 33% chance at F5) and if you're facing someone who is F7+, you may only tie their Fight Value OR not even reach their Fight Value by calling a Strike. Sounds like a wasted Might point to me.

So instead of looking at your opponent's Fight Value as the decision point, let's look at other factors (though opposing Fight Value will always be a consideration). The first case where you want to call it is when you have lots of friendly models in the same fight as your hero and have only a slightly lower Fight Value (1-2 is good, 3 is risky unless your opponent can't Strike back). As Rythbryt covered in his series, having more dice in the fight helps you more than a higher Fight Value most of the time, so piling in the models - whether it's models that are actually engaged in the fight, models that are supporting with spears/pikes, or having a banner nearby - is great for increasing the odds that you win the fight and the increased Fight Value just seals the deal. It will also make your opponent think twice about calling a Strike (if he can) or whether he calls something else (like Heroic Defense, if he can).

Speaking of banners, banners are best used when helping models with high Fight Values, so having a banner nearby (or a banner on the model calling a Strike) is really good. Many heroes who can Strike while carrying a banner do not suffer the penalty for having the banner (like mega-Boromir, Suladan, or Halbarad) OR they have a banner-like rule that isn't an actual banner (like King Aragorn). Having this reroll innate to your character is really good as you don't have to worry about your banner being sniped (unless the hero himself dies - in which case calling Heroic Strike is not really a thing, is it?).

A third instance where you should call a Heroic Strike is when you have no other heroic actions to help keep you alive and you don't have other ways of increasing your dice (like Shielding or having spare models to support you). This "ditch effort" is best exemplified by models like Ugluk or the Knight of the White Tower: with "only" 2 Attacks, a potential two-handed penalty for the Knight of the White Tower, "only" 2 Wounds/1 Fate, and relatively low Defense (D5 and D6 respectively), they're squishy heroes who can do a lot of damage if they're fighting grunts/manageable heroes/warrior monsters. But what happens when Aragorn or Bolg are charging these guys? How do they survive? Well, they call a Strike (and hopefully make these heroes counter-call the Strike instead of calling a Heroic Combat and smashing into someone else).

How Can You Waste The Heroic Action?

We've already talked about one way you can waste a Heroic Strike - and that's when you should be calling Heroic Defense. If your objective is to stay alive and you have the option for calling Heroic Defense instead of a Strike, you should call Heroic Defense. This is especially true against heroes who get special wounding conditions (like Aragorn with Anduril or Azog), monsters who can Rend (there are a lot of them), and models with bonuses to Wound (which can come from war gear like two-handed weapons and lances, special rules like Hatred or Backstabbers, or army special rules like the Army of Dunland LL's once-per-game-bonus-to-wound or the Black Gate Opens LL while-you-outnumber-bonus-to-wound rules).

You can also waste a Might point on Heroic Strike by counter-calling a Heroic Strike when you and your opponent's Fight Values are nearly equal. Because it's a toss-up as to whose Fight Value will be higher (and there's a good chance of getting a tie), your Might point is being spent on the chance of being higher (and the risk to me is just too great). I have a whole write-up example in my post on wasting Might points that explains this. Admittedly, my example includes a hero who has the option to counter-call Heroic Strike AND has a shield AND had Heroic Defense (which I didn't cover), so if you don't have other options (see the "ditch effort" above), this might not be considered a "wasted" Might point.

You can also waste Might on Heroic Strike if you don't roll that many dice (2 Attacks without additional help) and your opponent has a LOT more dice than you. Except in the case of a "ditch effort" where you know you're desperately trying to stay alive, I think this is a waste - it's easy to look at an opponent's Fight Value and say, "Yes, I have the lower Fight Value, so I'm going to Strike" without looking to see if that Might point would be better saved for boosting your Dueling roll or boosting a Fate roll.

Yet another way to waste Might on Heroic Strike is when you are in a duel where you are unlikely to wound your opponent (or where he isn't likely to wound you). A great example of this is with Thror: Thror can Strike (lots of people can from his list) and with "only" Strength 4 and "only" 3 Attacks, he CAN deal damage to people, but he might not. Calling a Strike might make him not lose a fight, but with 3 Wounds and Defense 9 and a Fate point that saves on a 3+ (and gets returned to your store on a 4+), I think calling a Strike with him is unnecessary against most foes. 

It's also a common strategy to call Heroic Strike when your opponent calls a Heroic Challenge (whenever that happens - though read our recent article on Heroic Challenge for some insights into legitimately using it) with the intention of one-turn-killing said hero. While that is certainly a strategy, the few models who are encouraged to call Heroic Challenge are usually pretty tough, so I don't think you'll do much to them by calling it. This might not be "wasting" a Might point, per se, but I don't really see the point (unless you think you can provide the overwhelming force required to smash the hero in one turn).

A final way you can waste a Might point isn't really a "waste" per se: it's to resist a Bolging strategy. The Green Dragon Podcast has a Tactical Dictionary that describes Bolging this way: a big hero with a very high Fight Value and lots of killing power (like Bolg or Azog or mounted King Aragorn or . . .) calls a Heroic Combat that is likely to succeed (fighting grunts let's say) and you have a hero who can call a Strike that could be charged after the Heroic Combat succeeds. Your options are a) call a Heroic Strike to dissuade your opponent from charging that hero and fight someone else instead, or b) not call a Heroic Strike and invite that hero to charge you. If you call the Strike, the hero is probably going somewhere else, so you might be "wasting" a Might point if you already had a higher Fight Value than the models you're engaged with. 

This isn't necessarily a wasted Might point though: if your Fight Value increases to a high enough level that you can Feint (assuming you have a sword or dagger), you can turn that Might point into rerolling 1s to Wound (which is better than nothing). If calling the Strike causes the Bolging hero to go somewhere else, you've spent that Might point for protection as well. Still, in most cases, you'll want that Might point for something other than Feinting later in the game, I imagine, so I felt this strategy deserved mentioning here in the wasting Might category.

Criteria for Finalists

With all of these thoughts on Heroic Strike, let's look at the criteria we're using for our Top 5 today:

• Having F6-F8 is good (since getting to F10 is good, but what's most important is getting a higher FV than your opponent) - being F9 makes Strike a bit superfluous to me;
• Having an Elven-made weapon is good (since this gives you an advantage against models that don't have an Elven-made weapon if you tie Fight Values - or levels the playing field if you tie Fight Values with an enemy model that also has an Elven-made weapon); 
• Your Might points shouldn't be competing with other priorities; and
• How much Strike you are likely to have in your list (if you're the only model that is likely to have Strike, then you're really important).

Top 5 Heroes - Forces of Evil

#5: The Spider Queen (The Dark Denizens of Mirkwood)

The Spider Queen can Strike from F6, which is not common for evil models (many do it from F5). With a 50% chance of getting to F10, she is a frightening aspect with S6, 2 Attacks with Monstrous Charge, and Venom (rerolling all failed To Wounds). Thanks to her 10" movement and I-don't-care-about-terrain rules, she's incredibly potent as an assassin and a common caller of Heroic Strikes (albeit a squishy one, with only D4, 3 Wounds, and no Fate).

And yet, she's only #5 on the list. As the only model with Heroic Strike in her list, I put her above the Goblin King of Goblin-town because I think she needs it more (the Goblin King has Gollum in his list, after all, which might mean his F6 beats all enemy Fight Values). That said, she does have Mirkwood Spiders in her list who could Paralyze her victim, making Heroic Strike unnecessary. All told, she might need Heroic Strike more than other models and she's pretty good at the damage game. I would probably have ranked her higher if she had 3 Attacks though.

#4: Amdur, Lord of Blades (The Easterlings)

Amdur, when mounted and near an Easterling War Priest, is pretty much the same as the Spider Queen: he's Fight 6 and can Strike, he can be S6 with Bladewrath cast on him, and he has 10" movement (restricted by horse movement). In some ways, he's worse (no rerolling all failed To Wounds), but in other ways he's better (3 Attacks with cavalry bonuses, D6-7 instead of D4, 1 Fate instead of 0 Fate). 

What really set him above the Spider Queen was his Elven-made weapon and the fact that his Heroic Strikes might be free: the Elven-made weapon is a nice addition since tying Fight Values is "fine" (even if your opponent also has an Elven-made weapon). The trick to this (as anyone with Master of Battle will know) is that your opponent has to feel the need to call a Strike against you in order for your Heroic Strike to be free - and maybe if your opponent is F5 and Amdur has been made S6, that will happen. But in most cases, if your opponent is also F6 (or if he's higher), your opponent may just take the chance on tied Fight Values (with or without an Elven-made weapon) just to avoid giving you the free Strike (and potentially higher Fight Value).

Also, let the record reflect that I put an Easterling model at #4 on the Strike list. There, feel the love . . .

#3: Uber-Mordor Troll Chieftain (The Black Gate Opens LL)

Striking from F7 is often unnecessary, but chances are that if you're running the Black Gate Opens LL, you need the Uber-Troll to deal with your problems. Thanks to being F7/S7, he's not only likely to get to F10 most of the time (67% chance), but you're also likely to batter to a pulp whoever you face. 3 Wounds with Defense 8 and 2 Fate points makes you pretty likely to survive should something go wrong and Fearless is always helpful in dealing with big problems.

In a list where he's your only source of Strike (besides other Mordor Troll Chieftains), you need him to batter your opponent's power pieces into . . . well . . . pieces. Your opponents are likely to rely on "ditch efforts" to survive, calling Strike simply to keep your Troll from mincing them up. As such, you will need to Strike too. Welcome the day when you don't have to call a Strike, but you're calling it - and honestly, you're pretty good at it.

#2: Bill the Troll (The Three Trolls)

Bill the Troll sits in much the sample place as the Uber-Troll Chieftain: he's the only model with Strike in his list and he's got one nasty, NASTY profile. While not as resilient as the Uber-Troll (3 Wounds with Defense 7 and 1 Fate point), he really needs to win fights to prove his worth. With what might be the most powerful Brutal Power Attack in the game, Bill needs to win - and if he does, any hero he's facing is going to die. If you don't know about Bill's Brutal Power Attack, read my post on the Trolls (Mince 'Em Fine is his - it's REALLY nasty). With options for Strike and Strength, he doesn't really have anything competing for his Might points - so Strike away. 

While I love Bill dearly, there was always going to be one clear winner in this category for the Forces of Evil - and that is . . .

#1: Azog (Azog's Legion, less so from Azog's Hunters)

When taken from Azog's Legion, Azog has Master of Battle. Before going into Azog's greatness, we need to address a pressing question:

If Master of Battle is so good, why isn't Gothmog on this list (who also has Master of Battle)?

The answer is simple: Gothmog doesn't wound well ("only" S4 - though this can be augmented in the Army of Gothmog LL sometimes) and with a base Fight Value of 5, most heroes who can Strike (F5/6) will either keep the Fight Values as they are OR they'll already have the higher Fight Value. While Gothmog can certainly get good use out of Heroic Moves and Heroic Combats with Master of Battle, there are only a handful of heroes who will give him a free Heroic Strike (unless there is a fight nearby where an enemy hero needs to call a Strike against, say, a Mordor Troll).

Unlike Gothmog, Azog's innate F7 and the ability to wound hero models on a 3+ (bolstered by the White Warg, who is probably with Azog) makes him a real threat to basically anyone - and this will cause the vast majority of heroes who can Strike to call a Strike. Azog will then happily copy the Strike for free and save his Might to boost his rolls. Choosing not to Strike is a huge gamble, since Azog is likely to have 3-4 dice to win the fight and might have a banner nearby (maybe a Signal Tower?) to give him a reroll. 

What really separates Azog from the rest of the pack, however, is that he has 6 Might points while mounted on the White Warg, which means he can call Heroic Strikes and Combats far longer than any other hero available to the Forces of Evil (unless you kill lots of heroes with someone with Blood and Glory or win a lot of accepted Heroic Challenges). Considering that his Heroic Marches might be free if he takes the Signal Tower, you have yet another reason why Might contention is not going to be a thing. Yep, Azog is the best - deal with it.

Note: when I first mocked out this post, I had Thrydan on this list. After doing the Heroic Strength write-up though, it struck me that Thrydan in an Isengard list (which is where I run him) doesn't really need to call Heroic Strike. Sure, he can in a pinch, but between Grima making your opponent leery of calling Heroic Actions of any kind and Saruman being able to Immobilize/Command whoever Thrydan is fighting, he often doesn't need to call Heroic Strike. Whenever Thrydan wins (especially if he's facing an infantry model while mounted and on the charge), Thrydan does a ton of damage - and this damage is further augmented by calling Heroic Strength, which I think is the better play for him. As such, I left him off the list, but know that I really, REALLY wanted to include him.

Further note: heroes like Sauron and Dragons were not going to make this list for a different reason: when you have access to spells like Transfix and your Fight Value is really high (F9 for Sauron, F7 for Dragons), you may not have to call a Strike to have the higher Fight Value and you won't have to worry about your opponent calling a Strike because they'll be Transfixed. While both of these models are quite likely to get to F10 (guaranteed for Sauron), it's just unnecessary. All of this changes if they have been charged, but it begs the question whether a Dragon is better served by calling Heroic Strike or Heroic Defense since wounds are such a risky business for them. Sauron, of course, is very hard to wound (and that Might point is probably best saved for boosting a Ring save if things really get out of hand . . . see what I did there with "the Ring" and "out of hand"? Okay . . . moving on . . .).

Top 5 Heroes - Forces of Good

#5: Beechbone (Fangorn)

Beechbone begins at F8, so you might not need him to Strike. Like the uber-Troll above, you may need this guy to deal with big problems. While you could ask Treebeard to do it, Beechbone won't be giving up any victory points if he fluffs. With 3 Attacks at F8/S8 and rerolling all failed To Wound rolls against Orc types, you are looking at doing lots of damage should you win.

Beechbone sits at #5 because of resource contention. With only 3 heroes in your army, you might need those Might points for Heroic Moves or Heroic Combats). Hopefully, like the uber-Troll, you won't need to call Strike very often. Know that heroes like Gwaihir (if he's not calling Heroic Strength) or Beorn could have taken this spot too - though in their cases, you're competing with Heroic Defense (as is Treebeard) for your Might point.

#4: Dain Ironfoot, Lord of the Iron Hills (The Iron Hills, less so from Erebor Reclaimed)

You remember how we talked about Master of Battle earlier? Well, Dain is one of two models in the Iron Hills list that innately has access to Heroic Strike (Murin is the other) and thanks to having Master of Battle (4+) if you keep your army bonus (which you should), he may get to call it for free! 

Dain has a powerful profile, with F6/S5 and a Burly two-handed hammer to enhance his 3 Attacks (and he can/should be taken on a durable mount). With a profile like that, your opponents are quite likely to try anything to avoid dying. That MAY result in a Heroic Strike "ditch-effort," which MAY result in a free Heroic Strike for you. Nice, eh?

So what holds this Dwarf back? First and foremost is Might contention - which is odd, since we assume some of his Heroic Strikes will be free. Dain showed up, however, in our Heroic Strength post - and if he's dealing with something big, he might want to call a Heroic Strength instead. He also has no Elven-made weapon, which is going to be a draw-back - for that, we need to turn to . . .

#3: Thranduil, King of the Woodland Realm with extra Elven-made sword (Halls of Thranduil)

There are actually lots of Elven heroes who could have taken this spot, but I'm giving it to Thranduil. With lots of options for Strike in Rivendell and a pair of Strikers in Lothlorien, I wanted to find someone who had a pretty high Fight Value (F6-F7) with a large number of Attacks (and obviously the Elven-made weapon bonus). I need look no further than Thranduil.

While on foot with his extra sword, Thranduil has 4 Attacks at F7 and gets +1 Attack for each model that outnumbers him (no limit). This makes it unlikely that your opponent will pile in too many models, which ups Thranduil's resilience quite a bit. With lots of wargear options to make him stronger, Thranduil is a beast. 

Like Glorfindel, your innately high Fight Value, paired with Elven-made weapons, begs the question of how important calling a Strike actually is (perhaps Celeborn should have taken this slot?). Being D6, however, makes most models wound you pretty well - especially those of the S4 variety, including most Striking heroes. While Glorfindel can be D7 with immunity to most Brutal Power Attacks, Thranduil doesn't want to trust to being "just F7" - so Strikes are going to be called. Narrowly edging Thranduil out, though, is . . .

#2: Bilbo Baggins, Master Burglar (The Survivors of Lake-town)

Ringbearer models are very powerful - and in the case of Isildur, your Fight Value is innately high enough to keep him from having to Strike. Bilbo may only be F3, but as the only model in the game to bear the Ring and be able to call Heroic Actions (besides his younger self), he doesn't need to roll well to tie/beat an enemy's Fight Value (he only needs to get a 2+ to tie/beat anyone's Fight Value and he's got Sting, which gives him the Elven-made weapon bonus).

Bilbo wearing the Ring also gives him interesting movement abilities, which allows him to assassinate enemy models really well. His low Attack value can make him finnicky on his own, but paired with another big hero (and being within range of a banner) and he's good to go! Oh, and having Dori, Champion of Erebor helps too - 5 Might points for calling Strike and backed up by a hero with a two-handed weapon that grants no penalty? Yes please!

Well, with one more slot to go, our final winner is (unsurprisingly) . . .

#1: Aragorn, King Elessar (Minas Tirith, possibly the Men of the West LL)

Aragorn does it all: his Strike can be guaranteed to be free, he has lots of Attacks (and grants his own reroll), he can wound really well, and he has an Elven-made weapon. What's to argue against?

I chose this Aragorn primarily because of his banner bonus (most LLs with Aragorn have a lot of Strike models in their army and a good many of those have Anduril equipped on Aragorn by default). This version of Aragorn allows Aragorn to be mounted too, which increases his base damage quite a bit.

If you run the Men of the West LL, Aragorn can't be mounted, but for one turn he (and friendly models within 12" of him) get +1 FV, which makes him more likely to get to Fight 10, but he'll be rolling fewer dice in the Duel and half as many dice to Wound than if he was taken from Minas Tirith on his horse (and had the charge against infantry).

If you've followed our series for the last two months, you may have realized that Aragorn has come in at #1 "only" four times. Without Heroic Channelling and getting only some utility/opportunity to call Heroic Accuracy or Heroic Strength, I guess taking the lot was out of the question. Getting second on Heroic Challenge is pretty good too - as is taking the top slot for Heroic Resolve, Heroic March, Heroic Defense, and now Heroic Strike. The end conclusion should be clear: he's a pretty great hero wherever you run him . . . at least when looking at his Heroic Actions.

Note: there are two heroes that I'm sad didn't make the list - Elendil and Helm Hammerhand. Both of these heroes are killing machines, but given the way we structured the test, they weren't going to come out on-top. Elendil is F7 with a master-forged hand-and-a-half sword and does epic damage, but to call Strike means you're turning down both a free Heroic Combat and Heroic Defense. Against grunts, that Heroic Combat is crazy good - and against small heroes, that Heroic Combat can work as well! Against big heroes, I think calling Heroic Defense is just better - it's saved by bacon a time or two.

Helm Hammerhand, if taken from his Legion, gets Mighty Hero - which we know from Aragorn is really good. He is the only model in his Legion with Strike (and the only model from his Legion to have a base Fight Value of 5), so you'd think he'd make the list. However, Striking from F5 is just not good - not sure why Rohan seems to be locked in to F5 and below, but that is what it is . . .

Heroic Strike

Strike is a powerful heroic action, but it's easy to waste it. Knowing when to call a Strike (and when not to call a Strike) is an art form in this game - and "just calling a Strike" can be a tempting spiral for new players. Hopefully you've learned a thing or two in this series on heroic actions - if you want us to explore more options for this series, please let us know!

As we start the new year, we'll be doing a one-off post on 5 ways to waste Might points. Recall that earlier this year, we did a post on 5 ways to waste Might points (check it out if you haven't already). This time, we'll be looking at 5 MORE ways to waste Might points (fitting, since we just did an eight-week series on using Might to call specialized Heroic Actions). Perhaps you fall for these traps as well? Learn more next time - until then, happy new year and happy hobbying!